Diverging Timelines Book 6: Final Convergence
by Space-Time-Leapers
Summary: The final book in the Diverging Timelines saga. The Doctor, Sam, Glad, and Jack go on the offensive to defeat the Master and Lothos, determined to stop the Pi Network once and for all. But will the cost of victory be too high?
1. Chapter 1

**Chapter 1**

 _Timeline Three_

 _Australian Outback, just before reversal of Jack leaper/leapee_

 _October 2009_

The current inhabitants of the TARDIS were discussing the biological elements of the time ship - and complaining about there not being any coffee available to drink, thanks to Jack's taking the last cup the night before.

"If I'd known that was the last cup, I would have saved it 'til this morning," Jack defended himself. "How do you expect me to perform without my morning cuppa?"

"Don't blame me. I'm a tea person. I only had that coffee because you drank it." The Doctor paused. "Well, Sam likes it too."

"I like what?" asked the man in question as he walked in.

"Coffee... and you look like you want a cuppa as well, based on the way you are abusing your upper extremities," the Time Lord told the leaper.

"I fell asleep in that chair in the library and I had my neck twisted."

"Here," Margaret offered, going over to Sam and massaging his shoulders. "The Doctor and I were just discussing where his ship was built."

"Grown," the Time Lord corrected.

"Oh... right... grown," she said using her fingers for quotations before resuming her ministration on Sam's shoulders. She smiled. "He tried to get me to believe his ship actually thinks."

"It does," Sam said in agreement.

" _She_ does," Jack confirmed with a grin.

"Yes, Jack's right. The ship's definitely a she." The leaper turned to the Doctor. "No coffee?"

"Jack drank the last cup yesterday," came Maggie's blunt response.

Jack was about to defend himself again when he suddenly felt a rush of energy simultaneously pulling him away and filling him. "I feel weir..." he started but didn't finish before his face relaxed totally and then reanimated. "What the hell?"

"You don't have to get testy about it. I can drink tea; I just would have preferred coffee," Sam said, a little annoyed, shrugging off Maggie's attention to his shoulders.

"What?" Jack demanded in confusion.

"What what?" Sam asked, equally confused with the sudden change in the other man.

The Doctor looked at the two men and, seeing the lost expression on the ex-Time Agent's features, questioned, "Are you all right, Jack?"

Jack opened his mouth but shut it almost immediately before appearing to think. "Okay, so I've leapt again because of the breach. Dammit. This was not the best time to have that happen. I hope he gets it right."

"'Leapt again? What do you mean 'leapt again?'" Sam questioned with a frown.

"It's confusing. Timey whimey big time. But I had displaced myself once and relived the last six months... at least to me but that's actually six months in the future to you now. I guess when I had Ziggy set the destruct sequence..."

"You what?!" the physicist exclaimed in shock. "You blew up Ziggy?!"

"Not yet. That should happen about six months from now... assuming I figure out my own plan. Ohh... this is giving me a headache," Jack complained rubbing his forehead.

"Ziggy's programmed to activate the emergency retrieval program should anything happen to the project. It's a safeguard I programmed into her in case the radium ring collapses. It's the only retrieval program that actually seems to work." He paced. "But why haven't _I_ leapt back?"

"You did... but in the other timeline. Rose is now in the Amazon with the Doctor, Maggie and Glad."

"That's Margaret!" the Australian woman groused. "Why can't anyone get that right? And I think you're nutters. I've never been to the Amazon and have no interest in going there."

"You like being called Maggie in that timeline. At least, you get used to it," Glad commented as she walked into the room, catching the conversation instantly. "Good morning, everyone."

"Good morning," Sam said distractedly, not realizing the girl had said something she couldn't possibly have known. "Are you saying that you just came from another timeline? That's impossible."

"Not if you're a fixed point in time, apparently. Which I am. The best that I can reason is that because the leapee that I'd originally leapt into no longer exists, probably due to that timeline being erased from existence, the scan found the first 'Jack' it could find in the right approximate timeframe. Ergo, I'm now here and the Jack that you were apparently arguing with is back at the Project and about to take the Master straight to hell. Am I right, Doctor?" Not hearing an immediate response from the Time Lord, he frowned and turned to him, noting the odd expression on the Gallifreyan's face. Was that... pain? "Doctor?" he questioned with concern. The Gallifreyan's eyes were wide and moist, his breathing slowly degrading into hyperventilation. The best description that Jack could come up with was that the alien was terrified beyond reason and was desperately trying not to let that terror show.

"No..." the Doctor choked out. His expression morphed immediately, scrunching up as he curled into himself, dropping to the grated floor. "No... No! NO!" Then came an ungodly scream, drawing everyone's attention from mundane issues to the tortured soul wrapped into himself.

All reacted to the Doctor's outcry with great concern. In turn, they asked what was wrong but received no answer. Sam took on his physician's mantle while Jack looked on wanting to do something but knowing for the moment, everything that could be done was being done. He didn't like the wait.

Glad moved closer to the Doctor but Margaret told her to give Sam some time. All waited to learn what was happening to their friend.

Reality was hyper-tangible for the Gallifreyan: all that is, all that was, all that could be. He could feel absolutely everything. Multiple timelines were overlapping each other, flooding the Doctor's mind. Even for a Time Lord, it was an overload. One timeline had all of them as the Master's slaves, another had them all dead, another Rose lived, another she died, another Jack suffered at the Master's hands, another he leaped into himself, another Glad was killed before he could save her, another she was killed before she could save him... Quantum Leap was saved, Quantum Leap fell... Alistair died and the Doctor comforted Doris... They saved Alistair and the Doctor suddenly remembered popping by for a visit to find his friends had gone... It was very much like trying to sort out spaghetti noodles from fettuccini from angel hair - all of them over-cooked creating one giant mish-mosh of time intertwined with each other almost to the point of being unrecognizable. Still, even with the overload running through his mind, there was something in the background, like a haze of noise. He could hear voices and words but didn't know who was speaking or what the words meant. Something soft but professional was touching him here and there as well, but he didn't know what it was, only that it wanted to help.

"What's wrong with him?" a female voice demanded.

"I don't know. Time Lord physiology isn't my specialty and I'm trying to apply what little I've read," came another voice. He wasn't sure if it were male or female, only that it was closest.

"Well, I know some but I've never seen anything like this." That voice was definitely male.

"Do you have the elixir you created from those _blansmartken_ leaves you told me about?" another female voice asked.

" _Blansmartken_ leaves? What are those?" the male voice asked.

"I read about them in the Gallifreyan pharmacopeia from the Doctor's library. He has one of those trees in his garden. According to the book..."

The male voice interrupted. "Wait a minute. You can read Gallifreyan? How?"

"That's not important. What is important is that I have something to knock him out. The Gallifreyans used the leaves in a tea to help insomnia. I was thinking it might help with dealing with the Master," the mixed voice explained.

"You want to serve the Master tea?"

"No. I've been working on an elixir made from these leaves, hoping to find a way to render the Master unconscious quickly. This is a more concentrated form of the tea Gallifreyans brewed. It might help the Doctor now."

"Then get it and give it to him!"

"I haven't tested it yet."

"Please, he needs peace." Again, it was that second female voice. "You're a physician and you have to help him. Just give him the elixir."

There was a pause and he felt himself being examined again. "At this point, I think it's our only option. Glad, you and Jack stay with him. Dr. Hawthorne, I need your help."

Something strong and comforting enveloped him at that point, brushing his hair for a moment. "Come on, Doctor. Just hang on. Help's coming." It was that male voice again.

It felt like eternity and minutes at the same time but there was after a small wait a return of the soft hands of the mixed voiced person. "Drink this, Doctor. It should help."

"I don't think he understands us, Sam," came a male voice in response. "Give it to me." The hands changed again and something warm and hard was pressed against his lips. "Swallow." It was definitely an order.

At first, the single word didn't make any sense whatsoever. However, the feel of something warm and wet in his mouth caused him to react instinctively, just obeying the order given him. The warm wetness just kept coming for a short while and then the warm hard object was gone from his lips and he was once again cocooned in strength. "Hurts," he whimpered, his voice strained. Though he wasn't sure what the word meant, he knew it described the feeling that was his current reality.

"I know," the male voice said, with pure empathy. A few moments later, the sounds of voices faded away and blackness filled his consciousness.

"The TARDIS says he's asleep," Sam stated as the Doctor's body relaxed in Jack's arms.

"Yeah, well, thank the gods for that," Jack said, again brushing away a lock of the Gallifreyan's hair. "What the hell was that about? I've never seen him act like that before. We'd better take him to the infirmary, examine him."

"I think he'll be more comfortable in his room," the leaper disagreed. "I don't think we'll find anything new in the infirmary."

"Something strange just happened, something none of us have an explanation for. And if some alien force is trying to take over the Doctor, we've got to be prepared and do whatever we have to do to free him from it. But we can't be sure what happened until we examine him."

Sam shook his head again. "The TARDIS has already run a scan. There's nothing physically wrong. This is mental and for that the comfort of his room will be more conducive to healing that awakening in the infirmary."

"It wouldn't be the first time the TARDIS has run across something she'd never encountered before," Jack contradicted.

"But she's right," Glad put in. "And so is Sam. He needs peace, not to be prodded."

The immortal man considered the words said and then nodded in concession. "All right. To his bedroom. But I'm having the TARDIS watch him. I'd rather know for sure that he's safe from harm." Gently laying him on the floor, he stood before lifting him once again, this time cradling him protectively as he walked out of the room. The TARDIS, wanting to help, assured that the next room Jack came to would be his destination.

Walking to the large bed in the middle of the room, he carefully laid the Doctor on it before gently removing his trainers, jacket and tie, ensuring that the alien was as comfortable as possible before covering him. Finding a nearby chair, he took a seat and started his vigil over his friend. He knew that he must have sounded single-minded and stubborn back in the console room but the Time Lord's collapse had terrified him. It was his coping mechanism to try to take charge of the situation, find the reason, and help in whatever way he could to resolve the problem. And he'd seen his fair share of body-inhabiting aliens to be on his guard. If the Doctor was possessed by such an entity, he'd willingly surrender himself as a suitable replacement for the Gallifreyan.

Sam had followed behind the two after assuring Glad and Margaret that everything that could be done would be. He looked into the room. "Jack?"

The head of Torchwood turned his head towards Sam. "Yes, what is it?"

"I know you'd like to stay with him. I'd like to as well. Make sure he's safe but we have other concerns right now as well."

"The Doctor is my only concern right now," Jack told him bluntly. "It's more than just wanting to be with him. If there is something wrong, I want to be here to help."

"The Doctor would expect us to continue on. From what he's told me of the Master and the dreams, we're going to have to develop a plan of attack. With or without the Doctor. We need you in those discussions."

A moment later, Jack slowly stood up. Going over to the sleeping Time Lord, he assured himself that he was indeed in no immediate danger before turning to the leaper. "I hate to say it but... you're right. No matter what happens to the Doctor, we have to continue. But, if Ziggy were to give percentages, our chances of success have just dropped below acceptable levels." He gave a wry grin. "That's never stopped me before, though."

"Nor me. I realize now that we're more like David as in David and Goliath, but that doesn't mean we should count ourselves out. David didn't."

Jack laughed. "Al was right."

"What do you mean?"

"You do talk too much. I can see why you and the Doctor get along," the immortal man told him before exiting the room, Sam following.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

The room was strikingly familiar, one he hadn't even tried to remember in a very long time. Red curtains hedged the open window, allowing a hint of the dark maroon night sky to be seen. Two moons shone weakly in the distance, coaxing him out of his bed and towards the window. Quickly glancing at the closed door on the other side of the room, he slipped out of the bed and crept up to gaze out at the darkened plains miles below. Sitting on the edge of the windowsill, he looked up into the sky and sighed. So many worlds in the universe and he was determined to visit every single one of them. After he graduated from the Academy, of course. His father and mother were still discussing that issue in detail. His father naturally wanted him to go, just like all the other Gallifreyan children. His mother, on the other hand, feared that his classmates would reject him because he wasn't completely Gallifreyan. He was close enough, though. Two hearts, respiratory bypass system... The only thing that was different was that he seemed to get ill faster than other children and he had human eyes.

He didn't even notice the soft sound of the bedroom door opening. He did, however, see the dainty hand putting a cup of hot liquid in front of him. "But I'm not tired," he protested. "Can't I stay up a little longer? Please, _mamis_?"

The human female just smiled at his protestations, kissing his forehead. "Drink up, little heart," she instructed. "You need your sleep."

Sighing loudly, he took up the cup carefully. "Yes, _mamis_ ," he replied, sipping at the nightcap. He had to admit she always did make the best night tea.

She smiled again, deep love reflecting in her eyes.

The Time Lord realized that he was dreaming, an almost memory playing through his mind. He was surprised to find a hint of sadness in his mother's eyes that he hadn't understood as a child. But he understood it all too well now. He returned the sad loving smile. "I'll go back to bed right after I'm finished with this. I promise."

She gently petted his hair back, kissing his forehead again before leaving the room.

The Doctor mentally watched himself pull his legs up against his chest, using his knees to support the hands holding the blansmartken raspberry tea. His father always thought it was disgusting, mixing the sour sleeping tea with a sweet, rare, dessert tea. But the Doctor had always loved it. He sighed again, this time with contentment as he watched the night sky, remembering and reliving one of the few memories he had of his mother. He didn't even flinch when he felt an odd presence in the room with him. Suddenly, his dream changed perspective. Although he was apparently still in the bedroom, he was no longer the child who needed to be coaxed to bed on a regular basis. Instead, he saw himself as his current incarnation. "You're in my bedroom and you really don't belong here," he stated matter-of-factly.

The woman standing before him glanced around. "Gallifrey..." she whispered with a sad and longing voice. "It's been so long."

"Yes, it has," he agreed. He brought the tea up to his nose and smelled it hungrily, letting the aroma tease his senses. "Funny how you remember the little things, isn't it?"

"Yes. It is." She watched him drinking his tea. "You're a hard man to get into a deep sleep, you know that?" she chastised him.

"Well... why sleep when there's a universe to explore, eh?" he commented with a grin.

"Sometimes the part of the universe you need to explore isn't out there," she said, pointing out the window, "but inside ourselves. Didn't Berega tell you that you needed to embrace the dreamtime?"

"What?" he questioned with a frown, turning towards the woman who had abruptly appeared in his dream. "How do you know Berega? You shouldn't know Berega. Well... you could know Berega since you're in my dream. But..." He blinked for a moment. "Who are you?"

"My name is Merlyna." She smiled. "You remind me of my grandson when you're trying to figure something out."

The Doctor slowly put the cup of tea down on the windowsill before standing. "You're Merlin's grandmother. How would I know that? I've never seen you. I've never even heard your name before so how could I possibly dream of you? I must be creating you out of latent memories from deep in my subconscious from people I've encountered in the past, a construct of..."

"Stop trying to figure this out. I am with you now, the only way I can be. In your dream, but I'm not a construct from inside you. I am exactly who and what I was when I existed on Earth, a Time Lord."

"But... that's impossible! You can't be here. How can you be in my dream, especially since you're... well... dead?"

"Well, I wasn't inside time when you did what was necessary." She looked at him with such sympathy. "You had to be so strong to do it. Your father was right. Going to the Academy was your destiny."

"Then you know about Gallifrey's destruction." He took a deep breath, his eyes haunted by the memory. "I didn't have a choice."

"No. You didn't, Dafydd." She put her hand out and placed it on his shoulder. "If you hadn't, time would have ceased. For every creature, not just for Gallifrey."

The Doctor pulled away from her touch, a stunned look on his face. "Where did you hear that name?" he demanded, noting that she had pronounced it with a proper Welsh accent, making it sound like 'Davith.' "No one knows that name. No one."

"No one inside time," she explained.

"No one. Period," the Doctor corrected adamantly. "That name stayed between me and my mother. Not even my father knew it."

"Those of us who exist outside of time see and hear many things that no one else knows."

"Apparently." He frowned as he thought about her words. "What does that mean, exactly, exist out of time? Nothing exists out of time."

She smiled. "I used to believe that as well. Where do you think time came from?"

"Time didn't come from anything. It just... is."

"Not exactly." At his look of disbelief, she continued. "It was put in motion by beings outside time."

The Doctor sighed. "You know, I've had this conversation before."

"Yes. I know. But that one is a trickster."

"So, I noticed. He kept insisting that he existed before time, which of course is completely impossible."

"No. That part he was being truthful about."

The Time Lord rolled his eyes with a groan. "Oh, here we go again," he muttered. "It's impossible. There's no such thing as before time or beyond time or outside of time... It just can't..." He paused, confusion playing on his face. "How did you get into my dream?"

She shook her head. "That's why you have to be careful with what he says. There's just enough truth that it's easy to believe they are lies." She paused once more. "And just enough lies told in a way so you believe they're truth."

"Great. Riddles." The Gallifreyan sat on the bed. "Now, I like a good riddle, same as the other guy but... You still haven't answered my question. How did you get into my dream, if you are actually really here and not just a figment of my rather overactive but still very brilliant imagination?"

The sour look she gave him for his pride was softened by her love for him as a person. "I am here. I've been trying to speak to you for weeks. However, since I can only contact you in your dreams..."

He scratched his right sideburn. "Yeah. Been a bit busy. Very little time for sleep. Well, I did get some sleep which brings up the question as to why you didn't show up when I was asleep."

"Your mind wasn't ready to accept I was here," she answered. "You needed to be fully relaxed."

"You call this fully relaxed? Last I remember, I was being bombarded with Time and then..." He turned his head towards the windowsill and the tea sitting there. He growled slightly, his eyes narrowing. "Oh…. That's just great. They drugged me with blansmartken tea leaves. Must have used triple the normal dose to get me this unconscious. I doubt I'll wake up for several hours."

"They're your friends, Doctor... and they all worry about you, as good friends do. The human physician does not understand Gallifreyan dosing as much as he tries. Besides, in the other timeline when he had time to figure it out slowly, you developed a tolerance and your mind was too strong. You were aware of your surrounding even when you were sleeping. I couldn't get in. He gave you what he considered a conservative dose this time but overshot the dose significantly because he had concentrated the active ingredients in the leaves. He didn't mean to do this to you but it did allow me to contact you this time."

His hand shifted to his face, where he used an index finger to tease the inside corner of his eye. "Yeah. Well... humans. What can you do? I suppose an infinite number of constantly shifting timelines in the mind of a Time Lord causing a complete neurological and mental collapse would be cause for concern," he conceded. "In which case, it is much preferable to be unconscious and unaware of Time than to be awake." He exhaled loudly. "So... assuming that you really are here and that you've been trying to contact me, the question comes... why?"

"The Eye."

He stiffened at her words. "What eye?"

"The Black Eye." She continued to look at him to see if he understood.

"The Master has it," he stated, more for the record than to inform her of the fact.

"Yes. And that's a problem for so many reasons."

"Well, the Master possessing anything with that much power is a problem anyway," the Doctor agreed. "But I think you are talking about something in particular."

"I am." She nodded to a chair. "Do you mind if I sit down?"

The Doctor didn't answer verbally, just gestured towards the chair in question.

She sat gracefully. "My _papisjarno_ was Omega."

The Doctor looked at her with disbelief. "Omega. One of the founders of Time Lord society. The Time Lord responsible for giving us the Eye of Harmony."

"Yes. And the Black Eye as well," she said simply.

"I suspected the latter," he admitted. "Only one person in all of creation was ever able to create a stable condensed black hole."

"And that's exactly the trouble. The Eye of Harmony is no more. Or at least most of it is gone. Galadriel has the piece I took long ago."

"You took a piece of the Eye? How'd you do that? Blimey, that's brilliant! No, seriously! Anyone who can actually steal a piece of the Eye of Harmony... without affecting its stability or getting caught..."

She looked down. "I was caught... sort of."

"How can you be sort of caught? That's like saying the Eiffel Tower is sort of in Paris."

"I thought I'd gotten away, but they figured out what happened and hunted me. That's why I went to Earth and lived as a human." A memory of time spent with Merlin crossed her mind and her eyes lit up. "Well, mostly as a human. There were times I did travel but never far from my adopted home."

"Could have been worse," he countered her words with a smile. "You could have been deliberately exiled there, unable to leave in your TARDIS, for four years."

She gave him a grin. "Yes. The Time Lord court was not always as far seeing as one would expect of beings with such a long time sense." She bit the inside of her lip. "But they almost did catch up with me. That's when I was given the choice of leaving time forever. There were many sacrifices including the fact that I could never come back except at special times in dreams."

"Forever exiled from reality," he realized. "I'm not sure that would have been a choice I would have picked." He paused. "You won't ever die, will you."

"No. But I'll never really live again, either... at least not live as you understand the term." She paused. "It was worth it, though, to be able to help you now."

"Glad's pendant. Berega said it was a weapon. From you."

"Before I left this world, I made it and left it with Merlin. I knew you would find her."

"And how did you know that?"

"You were drawn to her DNA."

"You mean the sudden detour on the way back to ancient Egypt. How could I have been drawn to Galadriel's DNA?"

"Did you never look at Rhiannon Smout's geneology?"

He blinked at her words. "My mother? Well... I know she was from Wales, which is probably why I've been attracted to the United Kingdom more than any other country on the planet Earth. Her name means 'little queen.' She insisted that I learn Welsh. She never really talked about her ancestry that much. Never was that much concerned about it either."

"Well, I was. Followed Glad's grandfather's line up through the ages. I must say, it was a surprise when I found you."

"What?" the Doctor exclaimed, his expression completely stunned.

"I don't think I need to repeat that. You understand what I mean full well. Glad is your _mamisrejarno_."

He shook his head in denial. "No. Not possible."

"And why not?"

"Because..." he started, looking more flustered as he spoke. "If... if Glad is my _mamisrejarno_... then that means that... that... Boyne... is also my _mamisrejarno_. And well, that just isn't possible in the slightest."

"From your reaction, I don't think you'll be thrilled to learn that Boyne is actually in your direct line. However, every family has an odd one, dear. We may not be proud of them, but they are part of us."

He physically slumped at her words. "Oh, bloody hell. One of my distant ancestors is a cross-dresser. And a thief. And a right ol' bastard!"

She smiled at his reaction. "Yup."

He gave her a glare. "You might not enjoy this so much, you know. How would you like it if you met your ancestor and had to blackmail him?"

"Well," she said with a sigh. "As I told you, my ancestor was Omega and while he did create the Eye of Harmony, the use of it threw him into a negative universe. To get out, he created the Black Eye. Now that may lead to a revival of the Time Lords but in the image of the Master. If he succeeds, he will make himself the new Rassilon. I think I'd rather have the cross-dresser and right ol' bastard."

"You're saying the Black Eye can make Time Lords."

"Yes."

"What do you mean, in the image of the Master?"

"I mean that the Master was reborn from the Eye of Harmony. He thus understands viscerally the power of the Black Eye and he'll use it to recreate the Time Lords with himself as their god."

"How do you know all this?" He paused. "You actually were witness to this," he realized. "You traveled into the future with your grandson and saw what was going to happen and you made Glad's pendant specifically to prevent the Master's rise. That's deliberately changing history. That violates the First Law of Time on a massive scale."

"And something that those outside of time have done. You've done so yourself when presented with the opportunity."

"Not deliberately. Not on a massive scale like this. Changing history on this level will tear the universe apart!"

"Not when you're putting right what was never meant to go wrong."

"You sound like Sam Beckett," he told her with a hint of a huff.

"Yes," she agreed. "What you don't see is that the Master should never have entered the world this way. History was never supposed to be as it is currently."

"If that is so, what caused history to change from the set path?" the Doctor questioned. "There had to be an external influence."

"Sam has what he calls his God, Fate, Time, or Whoever. Lothos also has those that watch over him. It was that influence that allowed Lothos to find the Master and bring him back into your world."

"So, you're saying the Devil had a hand in this."

"I'm saying that what would be termed as evil has made its play for this creation once again."

"The Black Guardian," the Doctor whispered mostly to himself. "The Overseer of evil, chaos, and entropy." Seeing the approving look on Merlyna's face, he told her, "I've encountered him twice before but usually not so... indirectly."

"He is devious."

"Yes, he is that. Even used one of my own companions against me." He took a slow breath. "This alters things completely. We have to stop him."

"That's the spirit," the woman said happily. Her face turned grave again. "But you will have to face your own internal demons to do so."

"Meaning?"

"Meaning you must now focus on the three fronts only and not consider the other possibilities. Time is in full flux. And..." She paused. "There may be fallout that will test your very soul."

He turned his head. "Another riddle," he grumbled. "What is it with you and riddles? And what was that whole hallucination in your Zero Room?" he questioned. Turning his head, he noted that he was alone in the bedroom once again.

Shaking his head, he stood from the windowsill, picking up the tea as he did so. Tasting it, he noted that it was still hot and smiled at the memories of his mother that it invoked. The flavor also brought forth other less pleasant memories, memories of events that, at the time, were far too overwhelming to him. He could remember the timelines ripping through his mind, drowning him. He could feel Jack holding him - he now was certain that it was Jack - trying to comfort him in his pain.

"Focus on the three fronts," he repeated Merlyna's words. Putting the tea back down on the windowsill, he walked over to the bed and laid down, closing his eyes before delving into his mind, now knowing what he needed to do.

Translations:

 _mamis_ – Mother

 _papisjarno_ – direct ancestor on the father's side

 _mamisrejarno_ – indirect ancestor on the mother's side


	2. Chapter 2

**Chapter 2**

Sam and Jack walked into the kitchen where Glad had placed a pot of tea on the table with mugs and cookies. Margaret was munching distractedly on one. "How is he?" she asked quickly swallowing her last bite as she saw the two men.

"Asleep," Jack responded, though the expression on his face didn't give any comfort. "I just wish I knew how to help him. What caused him to react that way?"

"You're doing it," Glad answered. Jack raised an eyebrow at her words, looking offended. "Helping him, I mean. As to what caused him to react that way... I'm not sure but I think it has something to do with TMI."

"TMI? Trans-mutational integration?"

"No... too much information."

"He's been listening to gossip then?" Margaret asked.

"The Doctor listens to gossip all the time but it wouldn't affect him that way," Jack replied.

"I don't think that's what she means," Sam pointed out. "Do you mean sensory overload?"

"Yeah... something like that, I guess. Isn't that too much information?"

"It would have to be one hell of a case of TMI... too much information, not trans-mutational integration. And before you ask... don't," Jack put in. "A Time Lord's brain can hold a whole universe worth of information. Well, more than a human brain can anyway."

"So I understand," Glad stated. "But right now..." She looked as if feeling something from a distance. "There's... something... not settled. It's like we're in the middle of a storm in time."

"Oh, I hate paradoxes," Jack grumbled, realization coming to him.

"Me too," Sam stated. "Writing that papyrus from memory... even eidetic... wasn't fun."

"This is a bit more complicated than writing something you are going to read later," the ex-Time Agent informed him. "I ran across this once as a Time Agent. Nearly drove my partner insane; she was slightly time sensitive. Basically, there were so many timelines happening at exactly the same time, some of them actually causing themselves, that she went catatonic. If that were happening and the Doctor reacted like that... well, I certainly wouldn't want to be human and time sensitive right now."

"You think that this storm is overwhelming him?" Margaret asked.

"Let me put it this way. How would you feel if someone suddenly threw you in a room where there was nothing but the sounds of hundreds of songs playing and the volume was at full capacity and you had to figure out the name of one particular song?"

"I hate noise like that," the geologist groused.

"Yeah, that would be hell," Sam agreed.

"We don't know if he'll find the song," Glad pointed out. "And if he doesn't, then the Master will take over and I think that terrifies him."

"From what I've seen, he has every right to be terrified. Hell, it terrifies me," Jack sympathized. "Which means that we have to ensure that it doesn't happen." He took a slow breath. "I hate to say it but the Doctor might not be able to help us at all in his current state. We're going to have to make plans to stop the Master on our own."

"Exactly," Sam agreed.

"How do we do that?" Margaret asked. "If this Master and the Doctor are the same species, he'd be the one to know how to go about this."

"Yes, but I've spent a great deal of time with the Doctor and come from a more technologically advanced century," Jack told her. "I also know a few things about what we are up against."

Sam looked at Jack as his forehead creased. "What exactly does that mean? A more technologically advanced century? You're not from my time?"

Margaret, hearing both Jack's words and Sam's questions, turned with an inquiring expression on her face. "That's a good question. You come into my office and practically bribe me into taking you into the Never Never! And then, it turns out that you can't stay dead. What exactly are you, Captain Jack Harkness? What's a Time Agent and where are you from?"

The immortal man looked at the two adults regarding him with curiosity. Glad, in contrast, was sipping at her tea and eating a cookie, obviously completely unconcerned about the conversation, almost as if she already knew what he was going to say. Taking a deep breath, he decided that, given the circumstances, it was best to be as openly honest about himself as necessary. "I'm from a human colony in the 51st century and I joined the Time Agency to regulate and protect time."

"Is that why you took over my project?" Sam questioned. He'd accepted Jack's explanation earlier but now, with this new layer of information, he wasn't sure that he hadn't been lied to.

"I'm not a Time Agent anymore. Haven't been for years. My taking over your project has nothing to do with the Time Agency."

"Why did you leave them?"

"They took two years of my memory. Seemed too high a price to keep working for them. It was a couple of years after that when I met the Doctor."

Margaret tilted her head. "You think we're ding-bats or something? You really expect us to believe that you were born... 3,000 years in the future? That's daft!"

"Margaret, you are currently standing beside a man who traded places in time with a twenty year old woman and a girl who has psychic abilities inside a space time ship that is dimensionally transcendental and owned by an alien from a distant planet and you think my being born 3,000 years from now is daft?"

"I'm not just psychic. I was born about 1500 years in the past," Glad pointed out. "I'm from Camelot, you know."

Margaret shook her head. "Okay... Okay... now I get why the Doctor's going flipping batty. This is way too much information." She ran a hand over her eyes. "I want to go home!"

"What a great idea!" Sam stated. "If I understood correctly, you teach at the University in Melbourne. The Prometheus Institute is in Melbourne. If we use your house as a base..."

"That's not what I meant..." Margaret said weakly.

"Perfect!" Jack exclaimed, grabbing Sam's shoulders with gusto. "Sam, you're a genius!"

"Thanks," Sam answered, "but it was Margaret's idea."

"I didn't say..."

"Do you have a big dining room table?" Jack questioned. "We could easily draw up some plans on there, using whatever information we can gather about the Prometheus Institute building. Preferably get some blueprints for it. The Doctor mentioned something about someone called Lothos, that he was basically the yang to your ying," he stated to Sam. "I'm thinking that means he probably has a project as extensive as yours in which case he would need a very large secret base of operation. If my guess is right, that would be the PI building."

"Right!" Sam agreed. His face fell. "But we're in the middle of the Outback and the Doctor's out of it for now. How do we get there?"

"Don't worry about that," Glad said standing up and heading for the door. "Got it covered. Maggie, what street do you live on?"

"On Bouverie Street, just south of Pelham," she replied, a stunned expression on her face. "But I really didn't..."

"Be back in five minutes," Glad called as she left, running towards the console room.

"Thing is..." Jack continued as if no one had said anything. "That building the Prometheus Institute is in... When I landed in Melbourne, I did a little research before finding Maggie there..."

"It's Margaret!" she protested.

"... and it's been there for about forty years. Before being bought by the Prometheus Institute it was owned by Wrotodoch Laboratories."

"Never heard of them." Sam answered. "But then again, I really never worked much with Australian companies."

"Neither have I and that's really saying something considering how long I've been around," Jack replied. "But it's not the laboratories that interest me as much as the name. Wrotodoch Laboratories? Really? Sounds like some kind of drink in a bad sci fi show. But if I rearrange the letters, I get the name of an organization I'm extremely familiar with. And so are you."

"Torchwood?" Sam asked. Jack snapped his fingers and pointed to him in confirmation.

"Torchwood?" Margaret questioned, her confusion apparent. "What's Torchwood? What are you two nutters on about now?"

"When you think about it, it's a pretty stupid way to try to mask your existence, taking your name and changing it into an anagram," the head of the Cardiff branch stated.

"What the hell is Torchwood?!"

"It's the organization he's in charge of in Cardiff," Sam explained.

"Well, I never heard of it," Margaret grumbled.

"Of course not," Jack responded. "It's a semi-secret organization - well, semi-secret now - whose original intent was to bring back and protect the British Empire from extraterrestrials and other phantasmagoria." Feeling Sam and Maggie looking at him with raised eyebrows, he told them, "Hey, their choice of words, not mine. Besides, I changed that." Even as he spoke, the room shook slightly. His eyes widened slightly. "We've landed."

"Better driving than the Doctor, in my opinion," Sam commented. "I didn't even know we were underway."

"Landed? What do you mean, we've landed?" Margaret demanded.

"Well, we'd better see what we have to work with," the immortal man continued to ignore the professor. "If our location isn't viable, we may need to scout out a different center of operation." With that, he exited the kitchen, Sam following behind.

Margaret growled in frustration. "Am I invisible or something?" she exclaimed, hurrying to catch up with them.

As they walked into the console room, Sam complimented Glad. "That was the best trip I've experienced since I started traveling with the Doctor."

"Thank you. I learned from the best, you know," she responded with a grin. "But don't blame the Doctor for the other rough landings. The TARDIS likes to make things fun. Plus I think with the Doctor being so sick she wants to make sure that nothing wakes him unnecessarily."

Jack was already at the door, peeking out. "Beautiful! How long have you been flying her again?"

"Well, the Doctor never really let me fly her but I paid close attention whenever I could to how he did it," Glad admitted.

"Impressive! You're a natural!" Jack complimented her before stepping through the door. "Yeah, this will do nicely. Even has a big table."

Sam looked over to Margaret. "We really appreciate your offer."

"What offer?" she questioned with suspicion as Sam and Glad followed Jack out of the TARDIS. Stepping out of the time ship itself, she physically deflated. "You have got to be kidding me."

"What?" Glad asked. "Was there a joke or something I missed?"

The professor walked past the rest of the group and slumped into her couch. "Why? Why did I go back to my office yesterday? I could have gone for an iced chai latte and a lemon cake. Or a walk through the park. But no. I had to go back to my office and thus meet Captain Jack Harkness, sending me down the rabbit hole."

"Actually that was a few days ago. It just feels like yesterday. And you gotta admit. You've never had a better ride," Jack stated back as he looked around the living room of the house that Margaret owned. "Right. Research. Where's your computer?"

Margaret sighed. "I don't have a computer."

"You don't have a computer? How can that be? Everyone has a computer of some type."

"Not me. Don't believe in them."

"I think the Doctor has a few laptops we can use. I saw them in a cabinet in the library," Sam pointed out.

"If you're thinking about trying to get on the internet, forget it," Margaret told them bluntly.

"Why? Isn't there wifi..." Jack started. "Wait...wifi would just be Pifi now. Good point."

"That isn't what I meant," she corrected him. "It would be literally impossible to connect to the internet in this house. No cable, no telephone, no wifi."

"What's the internet and wifi?" Glad questioned with curiosity.

Sam looked to her. "You know how the TARDIS contains a great deal of knowledge... sort of a library. Well, Earth doesn't have technology like the TARDIS and thus they had to create something that would contain all that information and allow for data manipulation and such. That's sort of what the internet is. Wifi is just a soft connection to that system."

"Like the Doctor talking to the TARDIS without speaking," Glad translated. A broad grin graced her face. "Cool!"

"If we don't have internet, then we're going to have to find some other way of getting the information we need to plan our attack," Jack put in, bringing them back on the subject at hand while looking at Margaret for a response.

She sighed. "The University has a computer lab we could use."

Sam shook his head. "Pifi. Remember?" He paused. "Would the TARDIS be able to scan the net? I don't think she'd be susceptible."

"And we could connect through her to Torchwood in Cardiff," Jack continued on the same line of thought. "I'm sure Tosh would be able to analyze any data. She can also use Ziggy in this timeframe. Won't give us any historical advantage, but the computing power will be useful."

"Well, let's do it then," the leaper stated with confidence. "We can hopefully find the blueprints for the Prometheus Institute building and create a plan of attack based on any information that we can get about P.I." He sighed in frustration. "If only we could contact Ziggy in the future, we could get some odds for these scenarios, possibly even a look at what's going to happen." He sighed. "Only thing I know about the future, though, is I've asked Al to protect Ziggy by running a program that will continue until Al turns it off and hopefully that won't happen." He looked down. "I hope Al's okay."

"Knowing Calavicci, he's probably set up a mini-party as a morale booster and is sweeping Beth off her feet right at this moment, fretting all the while about how he can't come back and help," Jack commented. "There's no point in doing the same on our end about them. We have a job to do. Care to join me, Dr. Beckett?" He gestured towards the TARDIS in invitation.

At the request, the leaper's attitude shifted into one of determination as he led the way back into the time ship to fulfill the task ahead of them.


	3. Chapter 3

**Chapter 3**

It was six hours later. The laptops that Sam had found were set up in Margaret's dining room and were synchronized to work through the TARDIS' computer. Although Pi was not fully active throughout the world, it was strong in Australia, making it necessary to bypass the satellite system to connect with Torchwood without becoming influenced by the network. In a short amount of time, the house had been turned into an effective command center, with the dining room as the war room.

Sam and Jack were working on getting the information they needed to plan an assault on the P.I. building and had successfully obtained a detailed blueprint of the structure - including some information only available through hidden files in Torchwood's archives - when the door to the TARDIS opened. A moment later, a bleary eyed Time Lord stepped out, blinking as he regarded his surroundings. Off to one side was a comfortable living room with books lining one wall and artwork on the others. What books weren't in their proper place were piled up beside the seating arrangements. The other side of the entryway held a dining room that looked used but perpetually in good shape as if awaiting its next group of diners. In the dining area, Sam and Jack were hunched over papers. Margaret was lying on her couch, a wet washrag over her eyes. Glad was nowhere to be seen.

"Funny. I could have sworn there was dirt and kangaroos outside the last I'd looked," the Doctor muttered, scratching at a sideburn. "Where exactly are we and how did we get here?"

"This is my home," Margaret stated. "Now just remember, I'm a professor... not a housekeeper. Although, it's worse since it's been taken over by Captain Chaos and his sidekick the computer geek from hell."

"Hey!" Sam complained, looking up. "We needed to have a system available to..." He stopped. "Doctor? You're awake?" His medical training kicked in. "How are you feeling?"

"Obviously, I'm awake or I wouldn't be standing here talking to you. That is, of course, unless I'm a Zygon using me as a genetic template for a disguise, in which case I'm probably unconscious in a pod somewhere back in the TARDIS."

"You're no Zygon, thank heavens," Jack commented. "That would really put a damper on what we're trying to do here." He looked at the Gallifreyan. "I'm just glad Sam didn't give you too much of that stuff and you were able to wake up."

"I told you, it wasn't tested," Sam defended. He turned to the Time Lord. "You aren't... having timelines folding in on you?" It seemed to express what Jack was talking about earlier which, in turn, seemed to be the likely cause of the Doctor's previous breakdown.

"Oh, they're still there," the Gallifreyan corrected. "I'm just ignoring them. Well, ignoring them isn't exactly the right way to put it. More like I've locked them in the closet and they're pounding on the door to get out. All but two, that is. They're still out and are screaming at me for attention."

"Okay," the leaper responded, not at all sure that he fully understood but glad that the Doctor seemed to be handling things in his normal, albeit, unique way.

"Doctor!" Glad exclaimed as she came from the kitchen, delight clear on her face. Forcing the tray she had been carrying into Jack's hands, she ran to the alien and wrapped her arms around him. "I'm so happy you're feeling better. Do you want some tea or coffee? I made some for Jack and Sam. Margaret just wants water. She says that overly heavy use of caffeine tends to backfire. They've been really really busy."

The Doctor returned the expression of affection warmly. "Have they now? And what has Captain Chaos and the computer geek from hell been up to? And tea would be lovely, Glad. Thank you." Glad went back into the kitchen to make him a cup.

"Planning the assault on the Prometheus Institute, of course," Jack said getting up and moving to the Doctor. He looked at his friend intently. "You had us worried and that's saying something."

"Yeah. Sorry about that," the Time Lord replied. His eyes focused on Jack's before giving him a genuine smile. "Thanks for taking care of me." The two shared a moment of meaningful silence before the Doctor broke it with a boisterous voice. "So... what have you got, eh?" he questioned, going into the living room to look at the set up they'd installed. "Oh, clever! Used the TARDIS as a backdoor relay to open communication frequencies outside of Australia and routed the signal through Cardiff and New Mexico to communicate with Torchwood and Quantum Leap. And you got a blueprint of the building! Really impressive considering that I've only been unconscious for one hour twenty-three minutes and seventeen seconds."

Jack immediately corrected him. "Closer to six hours."

"What? No. Impossible. My time sense is never wrong."

"Trust me, pal. There's a first time for everything. Ask the TARDIS if you don't believe me."

"That dream must have altered my temporal perspective," he murmured.

"What dream?" Sam questioned.

The Gallifreyan glared at the human physician. "The dream I had while I was in a drug-induced sleep caused by a far too large dose of _blansmartken_ leaf tea administered by meddling humans! An untested dose at that, from what I heard earlier."

Jack seemed to take the outburst as justification of his earlier concern and looked pointedly at Sam.

"Geez... we needed to do something and I was trying to estimate a reasonable dose/weight relationship but I wasn't sure how that would work for Gallifreyan physiology. Besides, you were the one that insisted we use it untested. I think you'd be happy that I didn't give him a lethal dose... only one that knocked him out for a... long while."

"You got me there. Guilty as charged," the ex-Time Agent admitted at last. Getting a glare from the Doctor, he told him, "Based on how you were acting, it seemed like a pretty damned good idea at the time. Think of it as a trial run for the Master." Gaining another glower from the alien, he continued. "And... it worked, didn't it?"

The Doctor sighed with reluctant acceptance. "Given the circumstances, I suppose that I can't remain too upset about your actions. Just... don't do it again! At least not on me."

"Then don't suddenly scream because of TMI."

"What's the Tiril Mantorotian Initiative got to do with anything?

"Too much information, Doctor," Maggie called out from the living room. "I feel for you, I really do. I've got a case of that myself."

"Right," he drawled at her comment. Deciding that it wasn't worth going into a deep discussion, he reached into his pocket and pulled out his glasses, perching them on his nose before examining the blueprints with interest. "Let's see what you've got here. What's Wrotodoch Laboratories?" he asked, seeing the name on the blueprint. Before anyone could answer, he stopped them. "No. I know this. It's as plain as the nose on my face."

"It's an anag..." Jack started.

"I know it's an anagram, Jack. It's just..." He looked at the word more intently. "Wrotodoch Laboratories... Wrotodoch Laboratories... why does that..." His eyes narrowed as he thought.

"It was the fourth Tor..." the immortal man again tried.

"Torchwood," the Doctor finally said, ignoring Jack as he figured it out. "Wrotodoch Laboratories is Torchwood." He looked disgusted. "Did Victoria put a branch in every corner of the British Empire? She would, you know. Brilliant queen in so many ways but this... this... well, it just tarnishes her legacy."

"Well, I didn't have a great deal of love for the old bitty," Jack stated, gaining a look that indicated that the feeling was at least understood if not shared. "But, no. There were only four Torchwoods. Canary Wharf was one. Glasgow, two. Cardiff, three. And a fourth that we weren't sure about. At least, that mystery is solved."

"Really? What happened here?" the Gallifreyan questioned.

"According to the newsfeeds, there was some sort of laboratory accident in the building, forcing Wrotodoch Laboratories to go into emergency lockdown," the immortal man informed him. A sad expression came over his features. "No one came out of the building alive and several workers were reported missing."

"Torchwood employees trapped in the lower secret levels of the building," the alien said quietly, his own heartbreak showing in his voice.

Sam added what they'd - or rather Ziggy - had uncovered as they'd researched the story. "The Australian government didn't know what the building was used for and kept it under quarantine. When the taxes piled up, they sold the building to the Prometheus Institute with the understanding they would address the laboratory disaster."

"Instead of taking care of it themselves?" the Time Lord queried. "You'd think they'd be concerned about the deaths of dozens of people and the disappearance of several others."

"What else would you expect? Our dipshit pollies trying to keep their arses covered. Sell the place to a non-profit and come out smelling like a rose," Margaret quipped.

"Politics are the same regardless of the planet you're from," the Doctor agreed with a shake of his head. Turning to Jack, he continued. "It does bring up another issue though. Doesn't Torchwood keep the alien items that they find, supposedly to protect Earth's future?"

The ex-Time agent looked distinctively uncomfortable. "Um... yeah. That has been standard procedure since the organization started."

"Then it's likely there was alien technology in that building when the Australian government sold it to them? Technology that would be of great interest to both Lothos and the Master?"

"That would be a reasonable assumption," Jack answered, relatively sure the Doctor's present calm was about to end. He could see worry tinting the Time Lord's eyes.

"We think that maybe that technology might be the link between them," Sam surmised. "How they ended up working together."

"So, if your suppositions are right, it's Torchwood's fault we are even in this situation," the Gallifreyan summarized with a glare towards the current head.

"Not _my_ Torchwood," Jack defended. "Torchwood Four went missing before I became head of Cardiff. I can't be held responsible for this."

"But you still are collecting alien technology and holding it," the Doctor countered.

"Yes. But I'm holding it for a totally different reason."

"I'm not questioning your motives, Jack. Only the means. If something happened to Cardiff, we could have a repeat of what is happening right now."

The immortal man shook his head. "No. I have everything in an Armageddon vault. You'd have to blow it up with a nuclear blast to open it, thereby destroying anything in the vault."

The Doctor's eyebrow rose. "Where did you get an Armageddon vault? Wait... Don't tell me... Fell through the Rift."

"Not exactly. It was at Canary Wharf. I appropriated it when that particular branch ceased operations."

"Well, at least something good came out of that," came the muttered response. "Anyway, you were saying about planning an assault on P.I..." He stopped, flipping through the notes written quickly before frowning. "...without me? Seriously?"

"Well... we weren't sure you were going to be up to it," Jack replied.

"And how exactly were you planning on capturing the Master without me?"

"We hadn't quite gotten that far," Sam admitted. "We had a few ideas."

Maggie pulled herself up to a sitting position. "All of which were around the twist, in my opinion."

"Around the twist?" the Gallifreyan questioned as Glad brought him the pre-requested tea.

"Mad, coo-coo, nutters, insane, wonked out..." Glad clarified.

"Yes, thank you, Galadriel. I do understand," he responded before sipping at the tea.

"One of the more promising ideas is to use _blansmartken_ leaves to knock him out," Sam put in when he found the opening.

"You'd never get him to drink it," Margaret sung back in a manner that indicated it wasn't the first time she'd made the point.

"Yeah. We agreed with you. That's why I've been working on a blow dart delivery system," Sam said with patience pregnant in his voice as he pulled up one of the pages. "Concentrated _blansmartken_ active injected directly into the carotid artery."

"You are making the assumption that Time Lords have a carotid artery," the Doctor stated plainly.

"Don't you? I thought I saw that in the Gallifreyan anatomy book," the Earth physician started, clearly concerned that this line of thought was going to be another dead end.

"Well, yes, we do but that's beside the point, isn't it? You are planning this whole assault on suppositions based on human mentalities and a biology book. How do you plan on actually delivering this dart without being seen?"

"The Master has to be stopped," Sam argued logically. "If getting into the facility is the only way to do it, then since I know that Lothos has been trying to capture me, I just give myself up. Getting in and being seen isn't the problem."

"Four humans, one of whom can be felt quite easily from a block away, just marching up to the enemy, waving their hands and deliberately getting themselves captured? You'd all be dead before you could take any action whatsoever! Well, Jack wouldn't. But still!"

"That's what I've been saying!" Margaret stated adamantly. "Not exactly the kind of plan one would expect from a bloody genius."

"I definitely would have expected better from the man called the 21st century's Einstein," the Doctor agreed. "The Master would have found your little blowpipe and the darts on you before you even tried to use them on him and then all four of you..." He stopped, taking a calming breath. "I'm not going to let you get yourselves killed or worse in a pointless kamikaze raid."

Sam blinked, obviously deflated. "That was just the most current of our ideas..."

"All of which have had flaws in them," Jack admitted.

"Then, if that's the best plan you have, you might as well just hand the Earth over on a platinum platter!" the Gallifreyan berated. "Human beings! I mean, 21st century minds I can understand. But you, Jack?"

"Hey, we had to come up with something, all right?" Jack countered, clearly frustrated. "Even if these haven't been the best ideas, we've been thinking through what might work. We haven't even finished considering all the ideas that were generated from the brainstorming yet."

"That's true, Doctor," Margaret replied. "The problem is that no matter which way it's planned, there seems to be this pesky reality that keeps popping up. We fail."

"That's harsh, Margaret. Some of them have a chance..." Sam started.

"For which your own computer gives low odds. I swear, the way you keep trying to make these ideas work, I believe you'd bet on two flies walking up a wall."

"At least were trying to find a solution instead of tearing down every idea..." the leaper countered, hotly.

"But she's been right, Sam," Jack pointed out. "We only get one chance at this. Failure is not an option."

"Stop it, all of you," Glad stated firmly. "The Doctor's here now and he's better so we don't have to keep trying to plan something without him." She looked over to the Time Lord. "Don't be upset with us. We've been trying, Doctor. Against overwhelming odds, we've been trying to devise a plan that will work since no one knew if you'd be able to do anything. Like Jack said, you had us all worried."

The Doctor's eyes shifted from one person to another as the argument went in a sort of round robin between the three human adults until Glad, who right now was looking like the only mature human of the whole bunch, stopped them. For a long moment, the Gallifreyan seemed at a total loss for words, especially as he now felt all of them looking at him, waiting for a reaction. He took a slow breath. "Right then!" he finally exclaimed, deciding that it was best to let the incident to slip into the past. "A plan of assault on a seemingly impossible target. I think we'll start with this blueprint you so brilliantly uncovered. By the way, Sam, good idea about trying to use _blansmartken_ leaves but need a better delivery system. As for the building itself... Jack, what can you tell me about it, since it used to belong to Torchwood?"

"I'm not entirely sure. The Torchwood branches didn't always play well in the sandbox together. I know that they would all have holding cells, likely on the lowest levels. There would be labs. There would be either warehouses or vaults to hold whatever they'd found. That much I'm sure of."

Sam spoke up. "But Lothos was the one who bought the building. His time travel equipment would have to be there as well."

"So, basically, we have no idea what we are going into other than it is currently a top secret time travel experiment and that the Prometheus Institute is a cover agency currently headed by the Master himself, which suggests that he has some control over the very top secret levels below which we do not have any blueprints for," the Doctor summarized. "No wonder you were thinking about kamikaze runs since you didn't think I'd be joining you."

"Now that we don't need to worry about that situation," Jack put in, "what can you bring to the table that turns these failures into success?" It was obvious that his words were not sarcastic but truly asking how the Doctor would be able to pull off what wouldn't be possible without him.

"Haven't quite decided. I just woke up, you know. Can't be brilliant on an empty stomach, now can I." He looked at Margaret. "I take it you have something to eat here?"

"Well, not much. I'm a single woman after all. I figure we could go out or have something sent in."

The Doctor considered that. "I think it would be best to test the waters. I say we go out."

Sam put the papers he'd been looking at to the side. "I could definitely eat."

Jack nodded. "I think we all can. Okay, Margaret, got a place in mind?"

"There's a little Italian place not far from here. Pretty good food and generally pretty quiet. Doesn't even have a television in the bar, thank heavens."

"What's wrong with a television in the bar?" Jack questioned. "I mean, other than the obvious at the moment."

"It's loud and obnoxious. Idiot's lantern was an apt name for it," Margaret groused.

"I don't know. Captain Galaxy was a great show when I was a kid," Sam put in.

"Yeah, well, I don't like television. It's just another of those technologies that generally rots the human mind. Seems such a waste to me."

Realizing that this was going to be a continuation of the same arguments they'd had with Dr. Margaret Hawthorne, Luddite extraordinaire, Jack suggested instead that they should leave for dinner.


	4. Chapter 4

**Chapter 4**

As the group went to dinner at the restaurant, the topic of communications came up.

"You know, we need to make sure that we have a means of keeping in touch with each other on this mission, whatever we come up with," Jack brought up. "Since I have a mobile and Sam has one, namely Rose's, I suggest everyone have one. They're hard to listen in on since there are so many signals in the air at one time."

"I'm not getting a phone," Maggie said adamantly. "I hate those things."

Sam looked at her. "No surprise there," he said drily.

"It's not just that I think they're utterly useless personally," Margaret countered. "Do you know how often they go off in my classes? They're annoying."

"You might need to get one regardless of your personal feelings on the matter," the Doctor told her bluntly.

"I want a phone," Glad said giddily. "I want a camera phone, a pink one with those shiny stones on it."

"You are not getting a mobile," the Time Lord replied emphatically.

"What? Why not?"

"Because you don't need one and you are far too young for one. Why would you want a camera phone anyway? Where did you even hear of camera phones?"

"When I went shopping with Mrs. Doris I saw a lot of people using phones in Lima. Besides, I'm sixteen. Some of the girls I saw with the phone were younger than me!" she exclaimed.

"I'm sure they were but I remember what it's like to have a sixteen year old girl around the TARDIS, other than you, I mean. All those magazines and opinions. These days it's only more bothersome when a teenager spends every waking moment chatting away on a mobile... or even worse, texting. Do you know how often that causes carpel tunnel syndrome? Sixteen and in need of splints..." He noticed that everyone was looking at him again as he went off on his most recent tangent. "Anyway, I'm not letting you change into a happy slappy hoodie."

"What's a hoodie?" Glad asked.

Jack laughed at the question. "He thinks you might turn into a regular hooligan."

"Oh... I wouldn't be like that nurse. She likes Frank Burns and I like Hawkeye better. Or B.J."

"That's Hoolihan, not hooligan!" the Doctor told her with a roll of the eyes as they stepped out of the car, Jack leading the way.

"I always thought a hoodie was something you wore on your head," Sam commented.

Jack turned back to Sam. "That's a beanie you wear on your head."

"I'm not thinking of a beanie, Jack," he replied with a glare. "I mean... I know it's some kind of piece of clothing."

"Touchy, touchy," Jack said before turning to the Doctor. "You, though, need a mobile for sure."

"I suppose," the Time Lord conceded as he scratched his face briefly. "Never had a mobile before. Never had the need for one."

"For this operation, I think it's going to be key. We've got a bit of a problem with this communications plan, however."

"The Pi Network," the Doctor agreed.

"If you could sonic a phone so that it works throughout time and space, couldn't you just sonic one to work outside the range of the Pi Network?" Sam questioned.

"Not quite that simple but... I could isolate all the phones to be on a different bandwidth than the Pi Network. No matter the width of the band, there are pockets that may not be utilized. I think I could find a thin segment that four people could use."

"What about me?" Glad questioned.

"I told you... no phone for you."

"Back of the line," Jack murmured, gaining a smile from the Time Lord.

Glad frowned at the two of them. "You're no fun."

"Don't worry, Glad. I bet when Rose comes back, she'll make sure you get a phone."

"Rose used her phone to keep in contact with her mother. Who does Glad need to call ultra long distance to?" the Gallifreyan complained.

"Doctor, you're going to have two females on your TARDIS and both will actually want to use mobiles then," Sam pointed out when Maggie raised her eyebrows. "If nothing else, they'll want to talk to each other. Trust me, I dealt with twin teenagers on one of my leaps."

"Rose isn't a teenager! She's twenty years old."

"Close enough."

Sighing, the Doctor just shook his head at the possible future he would face with Rose Tyler and Galadriel Thatcher. Turning to Maggie, he asked, "Where can we procure a couple of mobiles?"

"At a mall kiosk?" Jack suggested.

"Mall?" perked up Glad.

Maggie huffed slightly. "Tourists," she muttered. "I may not have a phone and may not want one, but even I know you go to a phone store. We can do that after dinner."

As the troupe entered the restaurant, a dark haired man met them. "Hello, Dr. Hawthorne. I see you've brought guests this time. Table for five?"

"Yes," the woman answered. "Preferably as isolated as possible, please."

The proprietor nodded, then lowering his voice he asked her, "Your friends... do they think Harold Saxon is a good man?"

"Do you?" Jack questioned in return, having heard the man despite the soft query.

"I asked first."

"I would say that," the Doctor put in, "based on this gentleman's reaction, he has the same aversion to television, radio, and mobiles that Maggie has, or at least has some mental properties that allow his subconscious to protect himself from the effects of the Pi Network."

"Margaret," the woman stated dryly again.

The man looked gratefully at the tall lanky man. "You're not one of his sheep?"

"No, we do not believe Harold Saxon to be a good man. Just the opposite, in fact." He grinned at the proprietor with obvious pleasure, extending his hand. "I'm the Doctor."

"Juan Torres," the restaurateur said taking his hand. "Good knowing not all of Australia is insane."

"Not at the moment," Jack stated bluntly. "Just ninty-five percent of it or so."

Glad moved to stand beside the Doctor. "Do you have tiara mastu?"

Sam let out a breath. "We talked about this, Glad. Balance. It's all about balance."

"It's tiramisu," the Doctor corrected her. "And I'm sure that he does. This is an Italian restaurant after all. Run by a gentleman of Hispanic descent. Don't see that very often, now, do you?"

Maggie smiled. "The best part is, though, Juan's got good Chianti." She looked at the proprietor. "I might just need an extra bottle to take home."

"Hard day, Dr. Hawthorne?" Juan asked.

"Hard last few days, Juan, and not getting any better."

"Well, I have a very nice, secluded table perfect for you." The group followed the man to a back room. "No one will bother you here."

"Ah! _Molto bene_!" the Doctor complimented.

The group all found their places. Maggie put down her menu first after a quick scan.

Jack looked at her. "Aren't you going to decide what you want first?"

She smiled. "Already know what I want."

"I think I'll have the shrimp fettuccine alfredo with broccoli and tomatoes," the Doctor replied. "And a lime soda."

Maggie smiled. "And the Doctor does too."

"Tiramisu," Glad decided abruptly.

Sam looked at her. "Eat something with vegetables first."

She tugged on her shirt. "I don't have to," she told him stubbornly.

"Yes, you do," the Doctor instructed her. "Either that or you don't eat at all. You're choice."

She sighed melodramatically. "Yes, Doctor."

"You'd probably like the spinach lasagna, Glad." Sam suggested.

She grimaced slightly at the suggestion. "Spinach?"

"Yeah. When made into lasagna, spinach can be really good. Mom used to make that and Katie said it was her favorite."

She looked around the table to see if anyone else thought the suggestion was a bit odd. The Doctor had a look that said he was seriously considering changing his mind about his choice of meal. Jack and Maggie seemed certain about their choices. That left Glad wondering if this was an elaborate practical joke on Sam's part. "I don't know..." she started.

Maggie spoke up. "Small world. It's always been one of my favorites too. That's what I'm ordering."

"I guess I'll try that," Glad finally decided. "I still would rather have tiramisu."

"So, everyone's decided?" the Doctor questioned. Getting a nod from each person, each in turn made their order when Juan returned. Then, once alone again, he looked on the group. "Let's use our time wisely and work on our plan." He leaned back in his chair. "According to one of my sources, the best chance for defeating the Master is Galadriel's pendant."

"My pendant? How can we defeat the Master with jewelry?" Glad asked.

"Your pendant is very special, Glad. Remember the explosion that Jack caused when he put those two slivers of rock... well, not really rock but they look sort of like rock so, as not to confuse you, we'll call them rocks... remember how they reacted against each other? The Master has a meteorite which that sliver came from. Both Merlyna and Berega indicated that your pendant is the weapon we need to defeat the Master. That was why Merlin gave it to you in the first place."

"Who's Merlyna?" Jack questioned.

"Merlin's grandmother. She was a Time Lord. Talked to me in a dream and gave me cryptic messages via Merlin's Zero Room and a riddle Merlin told me."

Maggie looked at the Doctor. "So now you expect me to believe a fictional character like Merlin was the grandson of one of you lot." She picked up her Chianti. "We just might need another bottle if this keeps up"

"I doubt that another bottle of Chianti will help us stop Lothos or the Master from accomplishing their goals," the Doctor responded. "Now let me think. How did that so cryptic message go? 'There will be a time when a force for good will be bound together on a great mission. The Storm will lead an elf, a reader of the rocks, and two knights in battle against the ones who use the Evil Eye to enslave all time. One knight shall be clothed in rose petals and the other knight is one whose life renews repeatedly. The key to salvation shall be in the elf's eye.' Well, we have a reader of rocks... namely you, Maggie..."

"Margaret," she corrected with a glower.

The Doctor continued as if she hadn't spoken. "A knight whose life renews repeatedly... well, that would be Jack. Sam looks like Rose so he must be the knight clothed in rose petals."

"You're obviously the Oncoming Storm," Jack put in, gaining a raised eyebrow from the Doctor.

"Oncoming Storm?" Margaret questioned.

"Nickname I picked up from the Daleks," the Time Lord told her. "You wouldn't know about them yet. But that leaves only the elf." He turned towards Glad with a smile.

"I'm not an elf," she said emphatically.

"No, you're not. But you do have rather elf-like features. Seen your ears in the mirror lately?"

"My ears are just like my mother's," the girl said. "My father said they were beautiful."

"And they are. They're lovely ears, with the little rounded points on the top. Looking elvish isn't a bad thing. According to 19th century Romanticism, elves are beautiful creatures."

"Well, I still don't get what the riddle says. I certainly don't have anything in my eyes."

"You have a sampling of the Eye of Harmony in your pendant," the Doctor told her gently. "And according to the riddle, that means your pendant is the key to our success. May I see it?"

She considered his words and took off the pendant, handing it to him.

Pulling out his glasses, he perched them on his nose and examined the pendant carefully. "Interesting. Wonder why I didn't notice it before." He seemed to try to pull the pendant apart at the edges before frowning. "Odd." Feeling the eyes of his companion's on him, he explained, "This pendant is more like a very large locket but, for some reason, it's sealed closed. And there's something unusual about this metal..." Bringing it up to his mouth, he licked the back and then looked thoughtful. "Definitely extraterrestrial. Seems more like a form of micro-technology than a solid metal... Familiar..."

Margaret blinked. "You can tell that from a lick?"

"Time Lord tongue," he told her as if that were a proper explanation. "But it's a locket. Why won't it open?" He seemed to think for a moment before handing it back to Glad. "Try opening that."

Glad took the item back and looked at the section the Doctor had tried to open. Pressing it, the locket opened immediately, revealing the opal-like stone on one side and a tiny network of metallic lines on the other. The moment it opened, the Gallifreyan quickly reached over and closed the locket once again, a startled expression on his face.

"What is it? What's wrong?" the teenager questioned, stunned by his actions.

"It sang to me," the Time Lord replied in an awed whisper.

Glad looked at the stone inside. "Sang?" She started to reach to open it again.

"No," the Gallifreyan ordered, wrapping his hands around hers to stop her actions. "Keep it closed."

"Doctor, what exactly is going on here?" Margaret questioned, confusion on her face. "How can a piece of jewelry sing to you?"

"I told you before. It isn't just a piece of jewelry. It's a piece of a condensed black hole and very likely so is the meteor that the Master took from you. And as Jack demonstrated, a positive plus a negative equals a great big bang." He took a breath. "Somehow, we have to get Glad's Eye in contact with the Master's."

"But the meteor was much bigger than that... um... singing rock."

Jack considered all he heard. "You aren't seriously considering blowing up all of Melbourne just to get to the Master, are you?"

The Doctor rolled his eyes. "Of course not. I have no intention of putting those two together unless I absolutely have to... and I have Glad's pendant around my neck and the Master's bioelectrical field around the P.I. building which can be converted into a force shield to withstand the blast and limit it to just that area."

"But you couldn't open it," Glad pointed out.

"Apparently, your pendant has isomorphic controls to prevent anyone from opening it other than you. But I'm glad you did open it for that brief moment as it allowed me a glimpse of the interior workings of the pendant itself." He gave her a smile. "Your pendant, my dear, is also a personal shield generator. Brilliant really. Should have recognized the technology immediately."

"Pretty impressive technology," Jack stated. "I'd love to have a look at the personal shield engineering schematics."

"Yeah," Sam agreed.

"Should be impressive," the Gallifreyan stated bluntly. "It's Time Lord. I'd heard rumors that we'd tried to make a portable shield. But from all the reports, the project was deemed a failure; the inventor had passed his final regeneration and the plans were lost. Some even believed that the plans had actually been stolen before being wiped from our databanks. The schematics would have been in Gallifreyan and they would be far too complicated even for either of you."

"Hey. I can read a little Gallifreyan," Jack complained.

"So can I," Sam put in.

"I'm fluent," Glad stated with gusto.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "I hardly consider two full sentences as being fluent, Galadriel."

"But they're really good sentences," she replied with a grin.

As the Doctor looked at the pendant, a rather strange look crossed his face. "Rose would have to be left behind..." he said quietly as if remembering something.

"What?" Jack asked. "What are you talking about, Doctor?"

"A memory of something that won't happen."

"How could you have a memory of something that won't happen?"

"Well... it won't happen to us although I was there when it was said."

"When what was said?" Glad asked. "You're not making any sense, Doctor."

"You were the one who said it," the Gallifreyan answered. He looked at the confusion on everyone's face. "Okay... okay. Let me explain this. There are multiple timelines fighting for existence right this very minute. The Universe is in full flux. It's why I had the reaction I had. Now, I'm focused on only two. And..." His face lit up. "Oh, Merlyna! You are brilliant. Absolutely positively brilliant!"

"He's off on another earbash!" Maggie sighed. "I think I'm going to need another glass of Chianti based on how much he's beaming."

"I have every right to beam," the Doctor replied. "After all, we Time Lords have always had a marvelous ability to work with time!" He paused. "There's a 'me' in a future that's been prevented in this timeline..."

"An original history?" Sam asked. "If it's been prevented then how..."

"You're thinking linearly again, Samuel. Imagine all timelines in play at the same time, not one supplanting the other. I can remember the things that happened and will happen in the other timeline because it hasn't disappeared from reality yet; it's in a higher quantum state and the timeline that will become the final reality hasn't been determined yet. So, I remember Glad's statement that was made right about this time in the other timeline."

"No wonder you went all catatonic," Jack commented. "Just thinking about it gives me a headache and I understand this stuff."

"So you're saying that there's information in the other timeline that will help us now?" Sam said making a guess.

"Precisely! And what Glad said was Rose would have to be left behind when we stormed the Master's complex which means he's created a biofield that Rose can't exit once it's up."

"That would explain some of the news that I'd heard coming from Melbourne during the Battle of Canary Wharf," Jack said. "Reports that some of the Cybermen were falling down in the streets, though those reports were likely exaggerated slightly. If the Master has a biofield, I would bet that those reports stemmed from activity around the Prometheus Institute and that his biofield probably was what incapacitated them."

"Those nasty creatures," Maggie groaned slightly. "We had one that kept appearing in the hallways at the University and everyone was talking about ghosts. I'd gone off on a dig three days before all hell broke loose. Professor Higgenbottom was killed by that metallic thing."

"Right. Anyway my other future self has been trying to figure out this biofield." He focused intently, his forehead creasing. "If I understand myself correctly, the only way that it can be altered is from the generator on the inside. The field itself is set to detect artron energy which is generated when one travels through time. The higher the concentration in a person, the more likely they will be turned into dust if they are in contact with the field. That's what happened to the Cybermen. Travelling through the void infected them with enough artron energy to making them walking targets to the biofield. And it means that Jack and I cannot go through the field. Time Lords are imbued with this harmless energy and Jack... well... you're practically made of the stuff, given that the vortex was used to bring you back from the dead. Glad cannot go through because of her pendant; the Eye in her pendant is likely saturated with artron energy. She could go through but since she needs to keep the pendant with her, that means, Sam and Maggie, it will be up to you to alter the frequency on the generator to allow the rest of us to go through."

"You're getting all that from connecting with a version of yourself that doesn't exist?" Maggie asked, rubbing her temples gingerly.

"I exist. It's just a different timeline," the Time Lord corrected.

"Neat trick," Sam acknowledged.

"You think that's impressive? You should see him build a Delta Wave generator in less than twenty minutes," Jack told him with a wide grin. At the look of confusion that crossed the other humans' faces, he added. "It would have fried the brains of all Daleks within a several hundred miles radius." Even as he spoke, the Doctor looked distinctly uncomfortable with the reminder of what he had nearly done to the Daleks and all mankind but didn't say anything, deciding that it wasn't relevant or necessary to argue the point.

"Oh. The things that looked like pepper shakers." Sam turned to the Doctor. "So you're saying my time travels haven't generated this artron energy?"

"And correct me if I'm wrong, but the fact that we went from the Outback to my living room means I've traveled in your TARDIS. Wouldn't that generate this artron energy?" Maggie added.

"It's the way Sam traveled that has prevented him from collecting too much background radiation," the Time Lord told them. "He sort of skimmed the surface of the time vortex. Plus, he only traveled within his own lifetime and only on Earth and that makes it easier for the energy to dissipate to almost negligible levels. However, he has been traveling with me for a few months so he has some artron energy surrounding him. Sam's levels would be higher than Maggie's and Glad's - who have only traveled on the TARDIS a short time - but would be far less than either Jack or myself or even Rose if she were here. And I really would rather not be turned into a pile of biomatter dust."

"Me neither," Jack put in. "I imagine that being revived from dust would hurt at least as much as being revived from a matter/anti-matter explosion. Just a guess but I don't want to test the theory."

A look crossed the Doctor's face for a moment, his eyes taking in the wry smile of the ex-Time Agent. "That wouldn't be the best idea in the world, no," he commented, remembering in another timeline how Jack had caused his own existence to vanish from time and space.

"Let me guess," Maggie stated. "Sam and I have to find this generator in..." She looked at Jack. "How many levels did you say this building had... that we know of?"

"According to Torchwood archives we found, there are at least eight sublevels," Jack said. "But a generator like that must be putting out a pretty intense signature." Grinning at the Doctor. "And I take it you still have that Buuuultarn Flemarson Beam Generator?"

"Well, I do, but that's such a cumbersome piece of equipment to use. Sam can just use my sonic."

"You're going to let him use your sonic? You don't let anyone use your sonic."

"In the other timeline, I gave it to you."

"But I'm different," the immortal man preened.

"Oh, yes!" The Gallifreyan grinned. "But that doesn't alter the fact that for Samuel and Margaret..."

"You remembered," Maggie stated drily.

The Time Lord aimed a sardonic eyebrow at her but continued without comment, "...will need to use it to identify the location of the generator." He gave the ex-Time Agent a firm look that stated that he'd made up his mind but still was enjoying the banter with his old friend.

"Right. So, I take it you've added more settings? The last time I saw you, you'd already programmed it with over four thousand. How many more do you need?"

"I like to be prepared," the Doctor told him.

"Wise man," Sam nodded.

"More like a wise ass," Maggie put in.

Glad looked over to her. "No need to curse."

"It's only a curse if it isn't true," the Australian defended.

"Let's get back to the plan, shall we?" the Time Lord questioned. "Sam and Maggie will go to the generator and alter the frequency to four hundred six Omegas." Seeing the frown on their faces, he waved his hand slightly. "Don't worry about what the measurement means. The generator will have some sort of adjustment control." He lifted one of the crayons that had been provided for patrons and preceded to draw an intricate pattern in a circle before tearing the paper table cover and giving the drawing to Sam. "This is what the generator needs to be set to. The moment the generator is down, the rest of us will join you and together we will search for the Master and the Black Eye."

As the Doctor spoke, the waiter returned with their orders. Once everyone was served, the waiter left and the meal began.

Sam noticed Glad digging into her lasagna. "What do you think about that now, Glad?"

"It's really good! All cheesy and salty and spicy!"

"It is good," Maggie agreed.

The group continued to talk and eat, enjoying each other's companionship. Once the Doctor had eaten his fill of his dinner, he stopped eating, and slowly leaned back, a small smile on his face as he watched his friends interact. This little band of humans - amazing, brilliant humans - sharing a meal on the eve of battle. Thinking back over the many years he'd waited on the brink of battle and the humans who had helped him, he couldn't help but feel pride at this particular band. He wished they didn't have to face the Master and Lothos but he also knew that he couldn't do the job alone. The Master or Lothos by themselves would have been difficult enough to face, but going against the two of them together would make Hercules himself shudder. Yet these people were ready to take on any task if it meant they had a chance to change the future of their world for the better. His hearts swelled with the knowledge of their loyalty and bravery. Hearing them laugh and talk, he felt more optimism than he knew he had a right to feel. And he knew, without any doubts, no matter what happened tomorrow, they would prove to both the Master and Lothos that the human race would not go quietly without a fight.

Sam looked over to the Doctor, realizing he had been quiet for awhile. "What are you thinking, Doctor?"

"You're brilliant. You know that? The lot of you. Absolutely brilliant," the Time Lord told him with a smile. "Now..." he said with a clap of his hands, seeing that they all had finished their meals as they talked. "Who's for dessert?"


	5. Chapter 5

**Chapter 5**

After dinner, they went to the phone store to obtain compatible phones for everyone except Glad as the Doctor remained firm that she wouldn't need one. As a result, the last thing Glad said to him was "camera phone" before going silent even after the Gallifreyan tried to suggest an ice cream peace offering. The group also steered clear of any television or radio broadcasts that gushed about the sheer wonder of the Prometheus Institute's CEO.

Returning back to Maggie's house, the Doctor put his hand out. "Phones," was all he said, knowing they'd know what he was talking about.

Sam pulled Rose's out of his pocket and handed it to him. Jack handed his and Maggie's phones over as well just as the Doctor pulled out his own phone with his sonic screwdriver. "This may take some time. Go have some tea or something," he instructed them as he carried the phones to the dining room table and started his work.

It took the Doctor over an hour to adjust all the phones to only work on a single narrow bandwidth removed from the Pi Network. He handed the phones out to the others only for Jack to gather them. "What are you doing?" he questioned with confusion at the immortal man's actions.

"I'm going to cross program the phones," Jack informed the group. "I'll use a unique ringtone for each person so you'll know who's calling."

"Good idea. That way we can communicate without even speaking, if the necessity comes," the Doctor agreed as he slumped into the couch.

"For everyone except me," Glad groused to no one in particular.

"Seriously, Galadriel, who would you call after this mission?" the Gallifreyan questioned.

"That's not the point and you know it. Do you know that in this time everyone has mobiles..."

"I don't," Margaret put in. "Well, now I do, I suppose. As soon as this whole thing's over though, it's going to be turned in even if I do have to pay for an early contract cancellation."

"You know what, Margaret? I think you're a closet techno-geek just waiting to escape," Jack taunted with a broad grin.

"And you would be wrong," she responded. "I hate where technology's taken us. People don't talk anymore; they text. People don't read anymore; they watch the made-for-TV abomination by the same name. People don't cook; they microwave..." She considered the last. "Okay, the microwave's fine at least some of the time since it's nice to have the water hot for tea without having to wait for it."

"Or popcorn," Sam agreed.

"Hey, we weren't talking about that stuff. We were talking about how I'm the only one without a bloody phone!" Glad cried out.

"Oh, attack of the drama queen," the Doctor moaned.

"Mom said Katie did the same thing in her late teens," Sam pointed out. "She outgrew it. Eventually."

"I know, Sam. Even Susan was occasionally a typical teenager... well, typical for a Gallifreyan."

"Fine. I'll be a typical teenager now and go bake some cookies. Sometimes you're just so..." She turned with a huff and stomped into the kitchen.

Jack raised an eyebrow as she left. "My teenager never baked cookies."

"Too bad. Cookies when they're angry usually means lots of good stuff mixed in," Sam said, looking up from a book he'd picked up during the Doctor's phone surgery.

"Like what?"

"Chocolate chips, nuts, M&M's...that kind of thing."

"I think I'd better go in and supervise," Margaret stated following Glad into the kitchen.

The Doctor was looking at Jack. "You had... teenagers? Really?"

Jack sighed. "You didn't think that I spent the last 140 years just sitting around, did you? All work and no play makes Jack a very cranky boy."

"I didn't say you didn't play. That would be like asking a fish not to swim."

"So, that would mean I'm incapable of engaging in monogamy?" came the sardonic response.

"I didn't say that."

"But you implied it," Sam observed.

"Thank you Dr. Beckett," Jack stated before switching topics. "Ringtones. We were talking about ringtones before Glad decided to make her plea to escape technological obscurity. You have any requests, Doctor? With 900 years of tunes... Of course, you'll have to limit them to Earth unless you have MP3's that I can modify."

"Anything is fine as long as it isn't rap or obscene," the Time Lord told him as he leaned back. He closed his eyes for a moment, letting his mind wander. "And I just meant it's hard to see Jack as a responsible father type."

"Well, you know it depends of what you mean by obscene. After all the Lortorians of Manos 14 consider sappy love songs obscene," Jack said trying to gauge how the Doctor was feeling. He couldn't help but add, "I was a good father... sometimes."

That gained a grin from the alien. "Now, that sounds like you. As for the argument about obscenity, Jack, we're not on Manos 14. So just pick a ringtone."

"Okay, okay." Jack defended, his hands up. "Just wanting you to have what you want. After all, don't want you grousing..." He stopped suddenly as the sound of glass breaking came from the kitchen, followed by a scream from Glad.

Immediately, the group in the living room ran towards the kitchen to find out what had caused the girl's outcry. The Doctor nearly ran, quite literally, into Maggie, who was hurrying out of the kitchen. "What happened?" he demanded.

"I don't know. She was furiously mixing cookie dough when she suddenly stopped and said 'Sam wasn't Rose. Rose was Rose.' Then she dropped the bowl and now... look at her. That's why I was coming for you."

Glad had dropped to the floor and pushed herself into a corner, her knees up, and was rocking with a low monotone. "No, no, no..."

"She remembered the nightmare," the Doctor murmured, swallowing tightly. Walking into the kitchen, he slowly came closer to her, going down to her level before calling out to her gently. "Galadriel..." Seeing her turn her face towards him, terror quite clear in her eyes, he opened his arms to her. "It's okay, sweetheart," he told her reassuringly as she quickly moved into his embrace. "It was just a nightmare. That's all. Just a nightmare."

"But it isn't! It isn't! There's death and blood and screaming... people dying everywhere! Rose and Maggie and Jack... and it started with Sam. They're all screaming! All screaming!" She screamed herself, as if trying to demonstrate what she was seeing.

"Can you help her again?" Jack asked, concern in his voice.

"Again?" Maggie moved closer to Jack. She too was showing her concern.

"He blocked her thoughts," Jack explained.

"I don't know. I'm not sure that I should. Doing it more than once may cause significant damage to her synapses," he told them. The girl's screams had turned into sobs as she clung to the Doctor as if he were a life preserver in the midst of a raging storm.

"Doctor? Maybe you don't need a full block. Hypnosis might be enough," Sam suggested.

The Time Lord looked at Sam with admiration. "We can try. But I need her calm first. And..." he winced slightly as fingernails dug into his back. "She isn't very calm."

"Please... please... I don't want them to die! I don't want you to watch us all die!" Glad cried. "Blood and pain... your legacy," she whispered tightly.

The Doctor froze at those two words, remembering clearly what he had seen in Glad's mind before – remembering the chains the Master had forced him to wear, chains made of links representing the people he failed to save by his own stubbornness against yielding to the Master's will. In an instant, the Doctor made his decision. "I need a quiet room," he instructed. "As plainly decorated as possible."

Maggie nodded to a door. "The cellar. It's not decorated at all, just bins and such."

"Perfect. Nothing to distract her from my voice," he agreed. Looking down on the girl, he brushed her hair. "Glad, sweetheart, let's go for a walk."

"That chain... that horrible chain... pulling you down..." she choked. Blinking, she realized that the Doctor was still holding her and that she was in Maggie's kitchen. "Walk?"

"Yes, a walk. Downstairs, in fact. Lots of interesting things to discover in a cellar. Isn't that right, Sam?"

"Um, yeah..." he answered. He didn't think telling her about the eight foot dragon he and the Doctor had found and fought would be very calming at the moment.

She pulled away from him abruptly. "No! Cells and bars and chains and whips..." she yelled.

Jack's face lighted up as he started to open his mouth but quickly closed it again, plainly deciding that his quip was totally inappropriate at the moment. Instead, his face resettled into concern.

The Gallifreyan did not appear to notice with his focus on the girl. He gave her a loving smile. "I would never lead you to anything like that. It's just a nice big room full of boxes. That's all." Reaching out a hand, he took hers and slowly guided her to the door Maggie had indicated. Opening the door, he turned on the light. "See? Nothing horrible in there. Just plain ol' boxes."

Shivering, the girl allowed the Doctor to lead her downstairs into the cellar, the ceiling only a few inches higher than the top of the Doctor's head.

"Guess I better not do hopscotch or such down here. I'd get an awful headache," he joked. Seeing no reaction from Glad on his humor, he exhaled silently, taking her further away from the door. "Come on over here and have a seat on the floor, my dear. Just you and me. You trust me, yes?"

She looked up at him, her eyes tortured but reaching out to him. "Yes. I trust you with all my heart."

"Then come sit in front of me," he instructed, pulling her down with him as he sat fluidly, his legs crossing. Glad did so and continued her gaze into his eyes, wringing her hands. The Doctor watched as Glad practically mirrored his actions, not having noticed before how gracefully she moved, even terrified as she was. _So much like Rhiannon_ , he thought with amazement, remembering his human mother and his distant familial relationship to Glad. For a moment, he gazed on her wondering how the girl's hidden elegance had survived the millennia to once again become manifest in a Welsh woman from the late 34th century. "Do you know why you are seeing these images, Glad?" he asked carefully.

She blinked as she thought. "Because it's all going to come true. I know that now."

"It could come true, yes. But that doesn't mean that it will come true. We've already changed that. According to your nightmare, Sam would have been replaced by Rose by now. But he hasn''t. And we are going to prevent the rest of your nightmare from happening as well."

"But what if we fail? I couldn't face seeing that happening to everyone. You especially. That horrible place."

The Doctor swallowed tightly. "We won't fail, Galadriel. But first, you have to know it in your heart."

"I don't know how," she said, dejected.

"But I do. I thought I could just hide your nightmares from you, hide your fears from you. But it didn't work. That's why you are seeing those images now. And if I don't do something to help you..." He took a deep breath. "I want to hypnotize you, Galadriel."

"What is that?" she asked.

"I'm going to put you into a state where your mind is open for suggestion. While you are in that state, I'm going to help you realize just how strong you are. I'm going to show you that your dreams, no matter how terrifying, are just tools to help you."

"You can do that?"

He gave her a gentle smile. "Yes. I can. If you allow me to. I can't force you. I'm not that skilled and neither do I wish to be."

"Okay." She gave her acceptance simply. She was ready to do what he asked her.

He gave her a gentle smile as he reached into his pocket and pulled out a yo-yo, extending the string to its full length to create a pendulum. "Okay, Glad. I want you to follow this with your eyes. Just your eyes. Watch it sway back and forth. Back and forth." He continued his monotone mantra for almost thirty seconds, encouraging her to relax further and further. When it seemed as if she were about to fall asleep completely, he carefully took her hands, telling her to listen carefully to his words, to acknowledge that she could still hear him. "Now, Galadriel, I want you to remember something very, very important. Your dreams are only shadows. They cannot hurt you, nor will they become reality. They are warnings of what may come, not what is to come. Use them to your advantage but don't let them rule your actions. Do you understand?"

She answered in the same monotone. "I understand."

"Good. Now I'm going to count to three. And when I do, you will wake up and you will remember what I've told you and you will believe it with all your heart. One... two... three."

Glad's eyes flew open. "Doctor?"

"Hello," he greeted her with a smile. "Better?"

"I... I... don't know. I know that my dreams are only warnings and I'm not afraid of them anymore..."

"Quite right too," he told her bluntly, standing up and offering her his hand. "Never be afraid of dreams." He sniffed at the air. "I think you're going to have to remake your cookie dough. That is, if you still want to make them," he added, remembering why she was making them.

"Of course, I want to make cookies. They're yummy! But... I broke Maggie's bowl." She sighed. "I'd better go help her clean it up."

"Oh, she probably already took care of that," he assured her as he guided her back to the stairs. "Besides, you're more important than some glass bowl and I'm sure she'd agree." Noting the confused look on her face, he told her, "You had a bit of a breakdown, needed a breather in the cellar."

She gave him a small grin. "Funny place for a breather."

"Well... nice and quiet, at least, isn't it?" he pointed out as they came into the kitchen.

Sam looked over at the Doctor and then glanced at Glad, asking with his eyes if everything was okay.

Seeing Sam's look of concern, he gave him a slight nod before he went to the table and sat down. "Maggie? I have a glass bowl about the same size as yours in the TARDIS. If it's okay, I'd like to replace yours with it so Glad can bake her cookies. Would that be acceptable?"

She was about to complain once again about the butchering of her name but decided this wasn't the time to do it. "Of course, Doctor. The bowl's not important but I appreciate it." She looked at Glad. "Let's go get it." The two females left for the TARDIS, the men staying in the kitchen.

"She'll be okay, then?" Jack asked when they were gone.

"She'll be fine now. The hypnosis worked and hopefully it will be retained indefinitely." The Doctor paused, changing the subject. "Jack, I want to talk about something that I remember from the crossing timelines. We've already established that the Prometheus Institute was your missing Torchwood Four."

"Yes," Jack agreed.

"And there are likely things that have been stored there. Alien things. Again, something we've already established." He turned to Sam. "This Lothos, is there anything strange about the way he does what you do?"

Sam thought about it. "Well, he has a way of punishing them. Turns their auras wavy and you can tell they're in pain."

"Sounds a little like Lensiati technology," the Doctor commented with clear distaste.

"Yeah," Jack agreed. "Sounds like Lothos did find some of Torchwood Four's alien stash. Before the Master ever showed up. I wonder why I didn't see that when I read the files."

"You weren't looking for it. However, this means we may have bigger problems than we originally thought," the Time Lord added to Jack's comment.

"Lensiati?" Sam questioned with a frown.

"Tall nasty humanoids with a lust for blood. They like to torture their prisoners for entertainment. Not that different from the Master, but that's irrelevant at the moment." He sighed. "We need to focus on this biofield generator." The alien leaped from his seat and moved into the dining room before pointing out a particular area on the building's blueprints. The area was one level down from the ground floor in a corner. "The one in there."

"You said earlier that we had no idea where it could be. Why do you think it's there now?" Sam asked.

"Well, if I were to surround a building with a potentially deadly biofield, I'd want to put it as close to a power source as possible to avoid outside interference. And given the configuration of those levels we are familiar with, there likely is a motor of some kind in that room, probably an electrical generator."

"Makes perfect sense to me," Jack agreed.

"Right. So... here is the plan," the Doctor told them. Going through every detail, he showed his two male companions their roles in what was to be the greatest challenge they ever faced as well as detailing Maggie's and Glad's roles.

Sam listened carefully. When the Doctor was finished, he confirmed, "So, Maggie and I are to do the infiltration." He considered the plan. "I wish we had an advantage to play to."

Jack spoke up. "You may. I'm not sure if Lothos found everything." He took the map and looked at it carefully before pointing to an area some distance from the main entrance. "Here," he said. "The Torchwood leader should have made sure the most 'interesting' items were locked up and I'm just betting there's a hidden safe beyond that wall. Putting the artifacts there would have made them difficult to find... unless you happen to be the head of a branch of Torchwood, that is."

The Doctor groaned slightly as he regarded the spot Jack had pointed out. "A little difficult getting there, considering the security that is no doubt all over the building."

"Yeah, but it'll likely be worth it. Might even be the difference between making this work or not."

"You really think there will be something there that's worth taking the time to divert from our goal?"

"Yeah. I really think we should look."

There was a pause as the Gallifreyan considered his words. "Like I said before, I won't be able to help you." As he spoke, Maggie and Glad walked into the room with the bowl. "Only you and Maggie can make it through safely."

"Through what?" the Australian woman asked deciding that she couldn't win in the name game they were playing with her.

"The biofield around the Prometheus Institute," Jack told the two females.

"Oh. You said I could make it through," Glad pointed out.

"But he also said you couldn't wear the Eye if you did," Maggie added.

Glad looked at her necklace. "I could give it to the Doctor to keep for me."

"No," the Doctor said abruptly.

"Why not?" Glad asked. "That way I can help Sam and Maggie."

"It's far too dangerous." He knew it was a weak answer, despite the authority in his voice.

"Well, excuse me, but I didn't think this whole thing would be all that easy."

"Galadriel..." he started. He stopped when he saw the determination on her face. He sighed, rubbing his forehead. "If it were up to me, you'd stay here the entire time. But we need you and your necklace. You're the only one who can open it. So, you stay with me and Jack."

"Glad, even if we get in, it's your necklace that can stop them," Sam said.

"There's no 'if' in this place, Samuel," the Doctor put in, looking at him firmly. "We must get in. It's either that or allow the Master and Lothos to take over the world. Personally, I much prefer the former option."

The leaper nodded. "I know. I just didn't express it well. We will get in and we will turn off the field."

"And you will be careful. This whole operation relies on you and Maggie," Jack added.

"Get in, shut it off for thirty seconds, then put in these settings," the Doctor instructed, reaching into his jacket and pulling out a piece of paper before handing it to Sam.

"Is that the psychic paper?"

Maggie's forehead creased. "Psychic... paper?"

The Doctor shook his head. "No... that is a set of instructions on how to realign the bioelectric field to convert it into a force field." He dug into his jacket and pulled out a leather billfold. "This is psychic paper."

Maggie looked at it. "What's it supposed to do? Read minds?"

"It's paper with slightly psychic qualities. It allows people to see whatever you want them to see." He handed the billfold over to Sam. "This should help keep you under cover while you get in and take care of the generator. But, whatever you do, don't use it on Harold Saxon. Remember, he's a Time Lord. He'll be able to tell instantly that it's psychic paper."

Sam laughed nervously. "Yeah. That wouldn't be a good thing,"

"That, Sam, is a bit of an understatement. I know the Master very well. He's not the forgiving kind."

"You can say that again," Jack said, recalling the Gallifreyan's murderous spree in Cardiff.

"Maggie, maybe we can use your connection to the University to get up into the building to begin with although we probably should dress the part," Sam suggested. "You have a suit I can wear?"

She considered for a moment. "You know, Saxon made an oblique, and obviously false, promise to share the findings for the study on the meteorite when he took it from my possession... if I was a very good girl. We could easily get in with that angle. And I know I have a suit that would fit your shape perfectly." She looked at Sam with a smile. "Well, at least it would fit your aura."

Sam blushed a little at her words. "Yeah. That's a great angle."

Jack grinned widely. "So... what does it look like?"

"What?" asked Maggie.

"The suit Sam's going to wear. I'm wondering how short the skirt's going to be."

"Jack..." the Doctor warned.

Jack looked at the Doctor, unabashed. "You know, this is a unique opportunity and you just want to take all the fun out of it."

"This is a mission, not a chance for you to gape," the Gallifreyan reminded him. "Besides, what would Ianto say?"

"You know about Ianto?" Jack asked. "How?"

"Oh, how I know isn't important. I'm just wondering if he's the jealous type or not."

"He knows me. I'm not going to change and he accepts that."

"Rational acceptance doesn't preclude emotional reaction," the Gallifreyan pointed out.

"No, it doesn't," Jack said, indicating more that he wasn't going to explain.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow, wondering what exactly the immortal man was hiding. Deciding that it really wasn't any of his business, he turned to the Professor. "Margaret, let Glad finish the cookies and lay that suit out for Sam so he can put it on tomorrow morning."

"So we're going tomorrow?" she said with a smile due to his use of her preferred name.

"The sooner we stop the Master, the better, especially now that we have a plan of attack," the Time Lord stated confidently. "And it would be best if we all were well rested before we act. The last thing we need is for one of us to fall victim to fatigue."

Margaret stretched. "Well, then, I'm going upstairs. I'll see you all in the morning."

The Doctor waved the woman on her way. He turned to the other two men. "Cookies, gentlemen?" he asked before starting into the kitchen. "And I'm using that term loosely."

"Sure," Jack replied with a grin. He looked at Sam. "Good stuff, huh?"

"The best," Sam replied, following the Doctor into the kitchen with the ex-Time Agent by his side.


	6. Chapter 6

**Chapter 6**

 _Timeline Three_

 _Melbourne, Australia_

 _October 2009_

The sun had been up for a couple of hours and was peeking through the windows of Maggie's house when the Doctor emerged from the TARDIS, obviously much more perky than those following him out.

"Ah, lovely day!" the Time Lord exclaimed, tucking his hands into his trouser pockets. "At least, it looks like it's going to be a nice day based on the amount of sunlight coming through those windows and the barometric pressure." He sniffed the air. "And I do believe that that is the scent of tea brewing which can only mean that Maggie is already up and in the kitchen."

"You're sure chipper today. Does going after a certifiable madman do this to you often?" Jack groused.

"Since I showed up, it's always been a mystery as to where his moods come from," Sam stated.

"My mood comes from the fact that it's a lovely day. What's wrong with appreciating the beauty of a day?" the Gallifreyan responded as he went into the kitchen in search of the tea he had previously smelled.

"I think they're just thinking about how dangerous things are going to be today. Seems out of place to be to bouncy," Glad suggested.

"Probably so but I prefer to keep a pleasant mood unless the situation calls for otherwise," came the reply. "Good morning, Maggie!" he greeted, pouring himself a cup of tea as he did so. "You don't happen to have sugar near?"

"I usually use honey myself but if you really want that white stuff, there's some in the cabinet over there," Margaret pointed out.

"Brilliant," the Time Lord stated before reaching into said cabinet, retrieving the granulated sweetener that was still in little paper packets. He opened two, watching the hardened lumps fall into his cup. "Blimey. You really don't use sugar, do you."

Maggie just shrugged before turning to Sam. "I laid out your suit on the bed in the guest room upstairs," she told him as she pulled some muffins which smelled wonderful but looked terrible out of the oven.

"Thanks, Margaret," Sam replied. He grumbled as he left the room. "I supposed I'll be expected to put on the damned pantyhose again."

"You won't look professional without them," Margaret called after him. "But I hear ya."

"What are those?" Jack commented with a frown, glancing at the baked goods as he went to make coffee for himself and Sam.

Glad looked on the muffins with curiosity. "They sure smell good but... I'm not sure I want to eat something that looks like... that."

"They're muffins. Remember, I'm a geologist, not a freaking pastry cook."

"They don't look like muffins to me."

"To me neither," Jack agreed.

"Oh, muffins! I love muffins!" exclaimed the Doctor, taking one out of the pan and biting into it. "Banana nut! Oh, Margaret, you shouldn't have!"

"At least someone appreciates that I got up early to fix breakfast," she said with gratitude mixed with annoyance. "Just close your eyes. You don't need to see them to eat them."

"Hey, I've had some meals that would make anyone cringe. I suppose I can put up with muffins that look like... that," Jack agreed, taking a muffin as well as his coffee percolated. As he bit into it, he smiled. "Oh... these are good. There's something in them that I can't place. What is that?"

"There's a hint of ginger. Takes a little edge off the overwhelming sweetness," Margaret explained.

"But I like sweet," Glad said, grudgingly taking a muffin and looking at it mournfully.

"They're sweet enough. It's not like I put vinegar in them."

Hesitantly, Glad took a bite out of the muffin. Her eyes widened slightly as a smile came to her face.

"See? Wouldn't steer you wrong," Margaret said. "My muffins are like a book. You can't judge them by their cover."

"That can be said of you as well," the Doctor commented as he reached for a second muffin. "You are a woman of many talents indeed. You can even overcome the Master's Pi Network influence." He seemed to consider his words for a moment and then frowned noticeably.

"What's wrong, Doctor?" Jack stated as he finished fixing his coffee before taking a second muffin.

"The Master is an expert hypnotist," the Gallifreyan stated, obviously concerned. "One may be able to overcome the Pi Network but, if any of you are captured, he could try to get information from you more directly."

"I've been trained against telepathic influence," the former Time Agent pointed out.

"But the rest of you haven't."

"What do you propose? I wouldn't have the first idea how to block a hypnotic trance," Margaret stated.

"What's this about a hypnotic trance?" Sam asked as he walked into the room, dressed to the nines in a green pin-striped skirted suit and high heels which he was obviously having trouble with. "I hate these things."

The sound of his voice caused all the occupants of the kitchen to turn their heads. While Margaret, Jack, and Glad grinned in obvious delight of how he looked - Jack hinting towards downright ogling - the Doctor blurted out a chuckle.

"Yeah. Laugh. At least Rose dresses reasonably. You sure I have to dress this way?" Sam asked. He looked on the stove. "What are those? They look like rocks. Are we going to use them as weapons?"

Margaret glared at him. "They're banana nut muffins. And if you are going to insult my cooking, you can forget having breakfast. I've already had enough insults on them as it is today."

"You're really pretty, Sam," Glad told him with a smile.

"More like gorgeous," Jack corrected, his own smile broad.

The Doctor, for his part, just blinked for a moment. "Rose looks good in the dress. You, on the other hand, look absolutely ridiculous."

"Muffins?" Sam asked, ignoring the compliments... and the insult. "You can't exactly blame me for not recognizing them. They do look like rocks."

"They're really good," Glad told him with her mouth full, having bit into her second muffin.

"Galadriel, don't talk with food in your mouth," the Time Lord berated her gently.

"Then how am I going to say anything?" she complained.

Maggie shrugged again. "Like I told everyone else, I'm a geologist, not a pastry chef. If they look like rocks, I can't help that."

"And it is rather appropriate that a geologist would have muffins that look like rocks," the Gallifreyan pointed out. He saw Margaret's face. "But more like those rocks they use in TV shows of this time in history. Soft and... well... soft."

"And likely edible," Jack added with a grin.

"Not the ones I've experienced," Sam stated. When they looked at him strangely, he added, "I've leapt into actors from time to time." He then apologized to Margaret. "I'm sorry about disparaging your muffins."

Jack grinned. "You know if Al was here that would have a completely different meaning."

"Huh?" Sam asked and then got it. "Oh. Well, he's much better than in the old days. I think."

"I accept your apology," the owner of the house stated, handing him a muffin.

Taking the offered muffin, the leaper took a bite and nodded in agreement with Glad's previous statement to him. "They are good," he confirmed. "Now what was this about a hypnotic trance?" he questioned around the bite.

"Well..." the Doctor started before being instantly interrupted.

"Why aren't you complaining about Sam talking with his mouth full?" Glad bemoaned. "If he can do it, why can't I?"

The alien sighed slightly. "Because."

"It's not lady-like," Sam said with a smile after washing down the muffin with some coffee.

Glad folded her arms. "I'm not the one in a dress."

"I'm only in a dress because I've been forced into one," Sam countered.

"Yeah... and it hugs every curve," Jack said with admiration.

The leaper glared at him. "Stop it."

"Anyway..." the Doctor refocused the conversation back, deciding that it wasn't worth the effort to try to stop the omnisexual from making his flirtatious statements, especially when Sam already had the matter in hand. "As I was saying, the Master is an expert hypnotist. And while Jack and I can quite easily fight against his direct influence, the rest of you cannot. Therefore, I think that it would be best if I gave all of you a self-defense mechanism to prevent him from using you for his own personal gain. So... I'm going to hypnotize all of you," he told them, looking to each of his friends. "Well, all but Jack."

"You mean like you did for me in the cellar?" Glad asked.

"Sort of, yeah," the Doctor agreed with her assessment. "But for an entirely different reason. I was helping you recover from a fear. This time, I'm going to implant a defense mechanism in your minds. If someone other than me tries to enter your mind or tries to hypnotize any of you, all they will get is false information."

Maggie looked distressed. "I don't know if I can be hypnotized."

"Believe me. You can by a Time Lord. That is unless, of course, you've had psychic training like Jack. Probably the only good thing that came out of the Time Agency for you, I would say."

Sam questioned, "So what are you going to put in our minds?"

"You can't cover your identities if the Master does try to hypnotize you but you can use a suitable and believable story. Like you, Maggie. I would imagine that yours would be that you are only interested in the meteorite. As for Sam... well, you're going to be a bit harder to find a believable story. Then again, with all the various people whose lives you inhabited, just trying to read your mind might confuse him."

Sam's mouth turned up in a natural half grin. "Yeah. There have been enough of them." He looked away for a moment. "If he learns who I am, though, I imagine that he won't keep me around long considering he's in league with Lothos and I know Lothos doesn't want me around."

"Oh, he'd probably hold on to you," the Doctor contradicted. "In fact, it wouldn't surprise me if he kept you around for a very long time. Not a pleasant thing. Trust me. But I'll give you a cover that will hopefully work. So..." He gave them all a grin. "Who's first?" Over the next few minutes, he provided what protection he could for his friends. Afterwards, the group collected what was left of breakfast and cleaned up the kitchen before heading off to get ready for their mission.

It was about a half hour later when Maggie came downstairs dressed in a royal blue skirt suit with a white blouse, stockings, and matching shoes.

Jack turned, hearing the sound of heals on the stairway. With a loud whistle, he exclaimed, "Damn, you and Sam both look good enough to..."

"Stop it," a feminine voice told him. Glad, dressed in a pair of blue jeans and a frilly t-shirt, grinned at him widely. "I figured I'd say it before the Doctor or Sam could."

Jack smiled at her. "You learn fast. I like that." He glanced back over to the women. "Not thrilled that I can't tell both of these ladies how beautiful they are, but I guess when one's around the Doctor..."

The Doctor turned his head to see what Jack was referring to. "Yes, they both look lovely. But one of them is still a self-conscious man in a woman's aura. Be nice."

"You weren't. You laughed," Glad pointed out.

Sam spoke up. "Being laughed at doesn't bother me so much. I know I must look absolutely ridiculous based on how Al tells me I look without the aura. The things I _hate_ are wearing pantyhose and heels." He grimaced and tugged at his shoulders. "Bras aren't exactly the most comfortable things to wear either."

"You're telling me," Glad agreed. "I can't believe women wear those things now. Give me my chemise any day of the year."

Sam gave her a half smile, clearly showing he appreciated the show of solidarity. Maggie meanwhile just shook her head. "Now, remember, you're my colleague from the Physics Department at the University, Dr. Sarah Tyler. She's taken leave for sabbatical in the U.S. and her information is online."

"Do she and Rose look alike?" the Doctor questioned.

"Close enough. I can pull up her picture." Maggie went over to the computer and pulled up a picture of a woman who looked similar to Rose but with darker hair. "Pretty close, huh?"

The Time Lord nodded in agreement. " _Molto bene_." Taking a breath, he turned to them. "Well, then..."

"Yeah. I guess we'd better get going," Sam said as he checked his portfolio to make sure that he had a copy of the map of the facility, the instructions of how to change the biofield, and the psychic paper. "We'll give you a call as soon as we've got everything in place."

"We'll be waiting outside of the field," Jack told him. "Just send me a quick text the minute the field is down, wait thirty seconds, then alter the field. We should be through by then."

"And be careful," Glad put in. "I want my best friends coming out of this alive."

Maggie nodded. "Trust me, we feel the same way."

Sam took a breath. "You really think that finding this cache of alien items is needed?"

Jack nodded. "You'll have some advantages with them you wouldn't have otherwise and, with them having technology to use against you, I'd want to even the odds."

"Makes sense," Sam agreed.

"Unless you absolutely need to, try to avoid using any weapons," the Doctor told them.

"This maniac is planning on taking over the Earth and enslaving mankind and you don't want us to shoot back?" Maggie questioned with a frown.

"The Doctor doesn't use guns," Jack explained.

"Yeah. He's not even thrilled if you use non-lethal martial arts," Sam added.

"I just don't think that violence is the answer unless absolutely necessary," the Gallifreyan defended. "I'd prefer to take the Master into custody rather than using Glad's pendant."

"Anyway," Jack put in, "You'll need to find the cache as soon as you can. Without being seen or caught, of course."

"Right. Wish us luck," Sam said, ready to get this plan in action.

Having called a taxi to collect them, Sam and Maggie headed off to their destination, both nervous but ready to do their part of the plan.

"I suppose we just wait now?" Jack questioned.

"If something does go wrong, I want to be available at a moment's notice. So... we follow them," the Doctor replied.

"Shall I call another taxi then?"

"You got Australian dollars on you?"

"A few," came the answer. "$1,537 and some change."

"Well, then I suppose a taxi is in order," the alien decided. He paused and then frowned. "$1500 dollars in Australian currency? Isn't that a bit much?"

"Never know when you might need something from the local economy... like hiding out. Learned that when I was a Time Agent. First thing when arriving at a new location, exchange enough money to make sure you can live at least a few days on a cash basis."

"You never did that when you traveled with me," the Doctor pointed out.

"We were in the TARDIS and it met almost every need. Why would we have to live on a cash basis?"

"Good point. So... taxi."

"Yeah. Taxi. Sure beats walking."

"You're all such wusses," Glad told them with a huff.

"Glad, do you have any idea of how long it would take us to get to our destination if we were walking?" Jack questioned.

"Based on the map that I looked at... four hours. That's not that long."

"And... if during that four hours, Sam or Maggie needed us? We wouldn't be close enough to help them," the immortal man pointed out.

"For expedience sake, I agree. But that doesn't change my opinion. You're all wusses. None of you walk anywhere."

The Doctor smiled. "No, we run," he stated, gaining a giggle from the girl.

Chuckling at the banter, Jack pulled out his cell phone and used the local directory function on it to find the nearest taxi company. Within moments, the cab had been requested and arrived in a timely manner. Once they arrived near the P.I. building, they waited in a nearby cafe, readying themselves for their part in the plan to stop the Master and Lothos.


	7. Chapter 7

**Chapter 7**

Maggie paid the cab driver as she waited for Sam to follow her out of the cab. Taking a deep breath, she turned towards the Prometheus Institute building, a six-story glass office building that gleamed in the Australian sun. She had to admit that she was more than a little nervous about their mission. After all, the Doctor was right. Everything about stopping the Master and Lothos relied on their getting the bioelectric field down to allow the Doctor and the others to enter the building. "You ready?" she questioned Sam, looking at him with an anxious smile.

"As ready as I'll ever be," he said. He smoothed down his skirt and started walking towards the building. In all the times he'd been a woman, he'd never really gotten the knack of walking in heels.

Maggie grinned slightly as she walked beside him. "Maybe I should have let you wear the flats, even if they looked atrocious."

"You had flats?" Sam asked, wishing he'd asked about that earlier.

"Well, you were complaining that my muffins looked like rocks and you didn't actually ask if I had flats. I figured that I had the right to not offer them," she told him as they walked through the door.

"All because I innocently disparaged your muffins? They did look like rocks. Tasted pretty good though."

"You asked if we were going to use them as weapons," she pointed out.

"When I thought they were rocks..." he pointed out.

"Rocks in a muffin tin? Seriously?"

"And I apologized..." he added.

She gave him a wicked grin. "If I have to suffer, so do you."

"Yeah, but you're used to them," Sam groused.

"Doesn't mean I like them," she sing-songed back as they approached the reception desk, which was on the far side of an expansive lobby.

A well-dressed man sat on the other side of the desk, apparently focused on the computer screen in front of him. He raised his head the moment Sam and Maggie walked up. "May I help you, ladies?"

Maggie walked over to the desk with confidence. "Yes. I'm Dr. Margaret Hawthorne. This is Dr. Sarah Tyler. We're from the University of Melbourne. We'd like to speak with Harold Saxon, please."

The man looked at his calendar. "Do you have an appointment?"

Sam nodded. "Yes, we do. Mr. Saxon said I should show you this and we'd be badged and sent on up to his office." He pulled out the psychic paper and showed it to the receptionist.

Maggie blinked, trying not to show how stunned she was when the receptionist did exactly that, providing both of them with clearance badges up to the fourth floor. Both she and Sam thanked the receptionist for his help and moved to the elevator. Maggie said nothing until both she and Sam were in the cab, going down rather than up as they had claimed. "Psychic paper, I'm guessing," she commented.

Sam nodded. "Used it before at the University of Chicago. Amazing stuff."

"I just bet. Maybe the Doctor will give me a sheet."

"Who knows. Anyway, we need to find that cache. See a map with a 'you are here' anywhere?"

"Looks like a bog standard office to me," she grumbled as she looked around. "I thought you were supposed to have eidetic memory. Surely you memorized the blueprints."

"I did. But the blueprints were of the building awhile back and it appears there have been some renovations. I need a point of reference."

Margaret took a slow breath. "From what I could tell, we want to go left. I suggest we start there before we draw attention to ourselves."

"All right, let's go."

The corridors seemed to go on forever, mostly because they had to stop every once in a while to avoid being detected. Then, with a gesture, Maggie pointed out an odd inconsistency in the wall. "Is that it?" she questioned.

"Maybe," Sam stated with hope. He went to a molding on the wall and, after examining it, pressed against two small, well-hidden squares. There was a click and then the wall moved, leading into a hidden corridor. "Quick, Maggie, get in here," he encouraged. Once she followed him, he closed the wall again. "Jack thinks it's likely at the end of this hall."

The two moved along the corridor as the wall closed behind them.

"The Torchwood stuff, right?" she questioned as she walked with him. "I hope he's right about there being something in here to help us. I'd hate for us to have gone all this way for nothing."

"Jack seemed to be pretty sure there'd be something we could use. I tend to believe him where this stuff is concerned."

"And he's basing his suppositions on the hope that Lothos hasn't found this place and that this branch of Torchwood actually stockpiled things in here," she reminded him.

As they approached the end of the low-lit corridor, they came across a door with a keypad on the side. "Electronic lock," Sam noted. "Jack gave me several codes. Hopefully one of them will work." He spent the next few minutes keying in the numeric information. On the fifth try, the door slide open to reveal a room filled with lockers.

"That is definitely bottler," the Australian woman exclaimed with a wide grin.

"Are you thirsty?" Sam asked, not at all sure what she said.

"I thought you were supposed to be a linguistics expert."

"Only with actual languages."

"Oi! I speak English and that's an actual language."

"English is a language that changes dramatically depending on the slang used. Australians have a rather rich well of phrases to use. It's confusing if you're not from here."

The indignation she'd expressed vanished at his explanation but she still shook her head. "Get a bloody tourist book next time then."

"If I hadn't dropped in via timeship and wasn't having to help plan our attack on an alien maniac, that might have been my first activity," Sam quipped back. "Sure would make it easier to understand you."

"Bloody oath!" she stated with a laugh, deliberately using her native slang. "So, now that we've got to the cache, I think it's time we had a look around, don't you?" She grinned as she opened a locker and pulled out an odd dodecahedron. She turned it in her hand for a moment, studying it before returning it to its place. "For all we know, all of this is alien office equipment."

"Yeah," said Sam. "Let's move on." They went to another locker. Opening it, they found a cloak. "Why would this be put here?" Sam questioned.

"Maybe someone left their Halloween costume down here accidentally," Maggie joked. "You know, going as a warlock or something like that."

Sam laughed. "Yeah." He pulled it out and shook it. "It's beautiful though." The cloak looked like blue silk with embroidery.

"Yeah, it is. Try it on," she suggested. Sam seemed somewhat reluctant. "Hey, if nothing else, we might need something to keep us warm. You know how cold computer rooms can be."

"How would you know? You hate computers," he teased her.

"Doesn't mean I don't know how to use them," she countered with a sickly sweet smile.

Sam shrugged. "Right," and put the cloak on. As he did, he asked, "So how does it look?"

Maggie's jaw dropped as she watched Sam put on the cloak. "Umm... I really can't answer that question since... well... it doesn't."

"What do you mean?'

"Ever read or seen Harry Potter?"

"I'm not sure. What was that about?"

"It's a series of young adult books about a boy who goes to wizard school." She shook her head slightly. "Never mind. Sufficed to say... well... you're invisible. I can't see you at all. It's just like Harry Potter's invisibility cloak."

"Oh." With that, Sam took the cloak off. "In that case, I think Jack was right. We can certainly use this."

"Yeah, I'd say so," Maggie agreed. "Makes me wonder, though, if J.K. Rowling had an invisible alien around her when she dreamed up the idea of the invisibility cloak in her books."

"Well, I certainly have a different take about things since I met the Doctor."

"I think that can be said for anyone who has ever met him," she responded as she started searching the other lockers. "Darn."

"What?"

"There isn't a second one of those cloaks anywhere." She grimaced slightly. "And I'm not sure I even want to try any of these other things."

Sam looked into the next locker. He pulled out a small item. "Hmmm." He took the small cylindrical device into his hands and examined it. "Looks sort of like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver only it's not blue."

Maggie took the device from him. "This doesn't look anything like his sonic screwdriver. I mean, what is that thing on the tip? A miniature radar dish?"

"Yeah, but the general look of it sort of reminds me of the one he has."

"We'll take this along, just in case," she stated, tucking the device in her purse. "Besides, if it is a sonic screwdriver, I want it."

Sam smiled at her statement and continued looking into lockers. He found a ball accompanied by a hand held device with a screen on it. He took out the device and pressed a button. Suddenly the ball levitated. With the control he was able to move it out of the locker and into different positions. The screen showed what the ball was seeing. "This might be helpful."

"Bring it along then," she told him as she looked at her watch. "We'd better get going. The rest will be waiting for our text and we still have that generator to take care of."

"Okay." He put the ball and cloak into a bag he'd been carrying. "After you."

They headed back along the corridor and, after making sure that they weren't seen, walked into the hallway. Sam made sure that the wall was closed behind them, wanting the hidden cache to remain hidden from their enemies.

"Part one is done," Maggie commented. "What about part two, the generator?"

"Coming up."

The two then carefully wound their way to a service door on the other end of the building. As they came to the stairway that would lead them to the generator, they heard the sound of personnel walking by. Pulling into a side corridor, they waited. After several long moments, the coast was clear.

Letting out the breath he didn't know he was holding, Sam nodded. "Okay, they're gone," he said. Making sure that they were indeed alone, they entered the stairwell and headed down. It was only a minute before they arrived on the next level down and exited the stairwell. Carefully creeping along the corridors, they came up to a door with a glass window. Glancing in, Sam noted that the room looked like a laboratory. In fact, it looked as if all the rooms on that level were labs. "One more level down?" he suggested. Gaining a nod of agreement from Margaret, the two returned to the stairwell and continued further into hostile territory. When they reached the next level, Sam tried the door only to find that it was locked. "Give me that tool we think is a sonic screwdriver," he requested.

Maggie dug into her purse and pulled out the object in question. She looked at it for a moment before handing it to him.

"If it is a sonic screwdriver, I should be able to set it to unlock this door. That is, if it's like the Doctor's." He looked at the controls. "I've seen him use his but I'm not entirely sure what I'm doing. You might want to step back in case I'm wrong," he said making an adjustment and using the device. There was a high-pitched whine and the sound of metal clicking into place.

"Sure sounds just like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver," Maggie commented.

Sam agreed before once again trying the door. He grinned as the door opened and the two slipped through, at last on the floor for which access had been denied. He looked out at the almost sterile environment. The corridor in front of them had no pictures on the wall, no carpeting on the floor. It was also colder, as if things electronic might need to be cooled. It didn't look like many people worked here. "This looks like the computer floor."

"That's a lovely observation," Maggie commented sarcastically. "What does it matter what it looks like? Where's the generator?"

"Okay, so it's stating the obvious but it also means we're close to our goal." He paused and then turned to his comrade. "I think the generator might be in this direction."

"Let's go take a look then," she suggested, following the direction Sam had indicated. As they approached an intersection with Maggie in the lead, the geologist stopped abruptly, her eyes on the corridor in front of her. "Sam, there's a couple of people heading our way and they can see me," she whispered, trying not to move her lips too much, knowing that Sam hadn't been seen due to his not yet making it to that point. "Put on the cloak," she ordered.

"Maggie..." Sam started but was quickly told again to put on the cloak as there wasn't time for an argument. He did so reluctantly.

"Hold it there!" one of two guards demanded as they approached Maggie with their guns drawn. "Who are you? What are you doing here?"

"Dr. Margaret Hawthorne. I was looking for Mr. Saxon's office and... well, I got turned around."

"Only authorized personnel are allowed on this floor. You obviously do not have authorization."

The other guard had been calling on his radio. "Control says to bring her in for interrogation."

Maggie gave a weak smile. "You'll see this was just a simple mistake." In a harder voice she said, "But I really would like to see a Doctor around here." She hoped her words would get across to Sam that he needed to press on. Time was running out.

"Oh, you're going to need a doctor, lady, if you don't cooperate," the lead guard told her. "Get going."

Maggie went with them but spoke a last message to Sam. "You've got to succeed. The fate of the world depends on it."

"She's a right loon, isn't she?" the guard that talked on his radio commented as they escorted their catch from the area.

As the group left the hallway, Sam cried under his breath, "Damn it!" He knew Maggie was right. Before he could help her, he had to make sure the Doctor, Jack, and Glad could get into the building. But as soon as he'd completed that, he was going to find Maggie and he was going to free her. He moved down the corridor, finding the temperature getting colder as he moved into the bowels of the project. Finally, he found another door that was locked. Using the sonic screwdriver again, he was able to open the door. Entering, he saw a large mainframe that looked like the schematic the Doctor had drawn for him. Taking off the cloak so that he could work, he pulled out the paper that the Doctor had given him and quickly made the required changes. The sound of the equipment changed pitch. He then pulled out Rose's cell phone and called Jack's phone.

"I thought the agreement was that you were going to send a text message," the Doctor's voice answered the phone, the Time Lord having snatched it from Jack's hand the moment it rang.

"Maggie's been taken."

The moment the Gallifreyan heard Sam's words, he didn't speak for a long moment. "How?"

"We were on a floor that they knew she didn't have access for. They're going to interrogate her. I've lowered the biofield. Let me know when you're in and I'll make the other changes."

"Are you in a safe area?"

"As safe as I can be. I can always put on the cloak again." Realizing the Doctor wouldn't know what he was talking about, he added, "Tell Jack that cache paid off. There was an invisibility cloak. I just wish there'd been two."

The Time Lord couldn't help but grin at his words. "Invisibility cloak. Sounds like good ol' J.K. Rowling." He gave Jack a glance before continuing. "Do that, then. Stay out of sight. Don't do anything to attract attention to yourself. We're just across the street in a local coffee shop. Give us five minutes then readjust the field just like I instructed. And from now on, text only, just in case."

Sam acknowledged the message and then both of them signed off. He put the cloak back on and waited. About five minutes in, the door opened and another set of guards came in. They looked around.

"There's no one here."

"Well, security said there'd been a breach in the door."

The first guard guffawed. "If there'd been a breach, we'd see someone here, right?"

The second one shrugged. "Yeah, I guess so. The whole system is probably knackered. Would explain how that woman got down here."

"Well, there you go. Now go on up to level four and see if you can help them with her. Maybe if they get her story, we'll know exactly what's going on. In the meantime, I'll let security know it was a false breach."

"Right," the guard agreed, leaving the room to go up to level four as instructed.

The first guard looked around once more. Seeing nothing out of the ordinary, he turned and left again making sure the door was locked behind him.

As the two men left, Sam let out the breath he was holding. "That was close." He hoped that the five minutes the Doctor told him to wait would pass quickly so that he could get to level two. He wouldn't abandon Maggie.


	8. Chapter 8

**Chapter 8**

Maggie was taken back to the elevator bay. Stepping into the car, she bit at her lip. She knew the Doctor had hypnotized her but she was still nervous. What if they didn't believe her? A few minutes later, the elevator car stopped and she was nudged roughly out of it and into the very well-appointed corridor.

"Move," her captor barked.

She went in the direction she was pointed in. They eventually entered an outer office where a well-dressed man was sitting at a reception desk.

"Is this the woman who was walking around Sublevel D?" The man stood from the desk and walked around, not waiting for an answer. He gazed into Maggie's eyes. "I will ask you a question. I expect an answer. If I don't like it, we'll have to interrupt Mr. Saxon. I'd rather not have to bother him with you. What were you doing down there?" Not getting any kind of reply, the man shook his head before turning slightly towards the desk. He depressed a button on the intercom and spoke distinctly into it. "Mr. Saxon, we have an intruder standing out here. She was found on Sublevel D. She is not being very cooperative with us." Getting a blunt, "Send her in, Reginald," the man gestured towards the inner office door. "Come with me, please," he stated, though it was obvious that there was no option to decline.

Swallowing tightly, Maggie entered the room, seeing the man and woman she'd met in the Outback at the crater. Still she didn't say anything. She just stood there, her knees feeling suddenly like jelly.

"Please, have a seat," Saxon offered, gesturing to one of the leather chairs in front of the desk while he leaned against it. He turned towards the man who had escorted Maggie into the room. "Thank you, Reginald," he stated, to which the man gave a slight bow and then exited the room. "Have a seat, Peri, my dear. This should be interesting." He again turned his attention to their captive. "So... Professor Doctor Margaret Hawthorne of the University of Melbourne, as I recall."

Maggie gave a weak smile.

He noted that she hadn't moved an inch from her spot. "Oh, please, Dr. Hawthorne. Sit down. After all, you didn't come all this way just to stand by my office door and stare at me." Still not getting any reaction, his eyes darkened. "Sit down," he ordered, his voice boding no argument.

Maggie sat at his command. She swallowed again, her hands intertwining.

Peri smiled slightly at the nervousness that seemed to exude from Maggie. "Dr. Hawthorne. Last time I saw you, you were covered in dust and grime. I believe you were flirting with my husband as well. I'll warn you, I'm a very jealous woman."

"I'd take her warning to heart," Saxon suggested. "The last person who didn't..." He shivered melodramatically. The lights dimmed slightly before coming back up and the Master knew that Lothos had entered the room. The being didn't say anything though, just listened. "Now, I believe my assistant asked you a question so I'll just repeat it for you, since you seem to have a problem understanding questions." He looked at Maggie firmly. "How did you get down to Sublevel D?"

"When I got on the elevator, I accidentally pushed the wrong button."

"Liar," Saxon replied. "You can't get down to Sublevel D without the proper elevator key. How did you get down there? What were you doing down there?"

"Maybe the system is broken. All I know is that when the door opened, I got off the elevator. I tried to call it back when I realized I'd gotten off on the wrong floor, but it didn't seem to be cooperating. So I decided to look for another elevator."

"Really." By the tone of his voice, it was obvious that he didn't believe a word she was saying. Standing from the corner he was leaning on, he walked slowly around the chair she sat in. "Just how stupid do you think I am, Margaret? There's nothing wrong with the elevator. So, either you tell me the truth or I'm going to have to stop being so civilized with you. Oh, and there is also the issue of the young woman you came into the building with. She apparently has disappeared. Where is she?"

"Another young woman?" Maggie said with a frown. "You must be mistaken. There was no other woman with me."

"The security guard at the desk says there was. A pretty blond girl going by the name of Sarah Tyler," Peri put in. "We even have you on camera coming into the building with her."

Maggie shrugged. "Coincidence."

"You introduced her to the security guard," Peri pressed.

"Well..." Maggie said, brushing her foot on the floor, "I guess I forgot. Professors are like that sometimes."

Saxon huffed a laugh. "Mine in the Academy never were. They remembered everything, even that little prank Thete and I played on the Castellan. Got us both two weeks detention." He leaned so that his face was almost touching hers. "Now, I'm only going to ask nicely one more time. If I don't like the answer, I'm going to have to do something you are going to regret... or perhaps let my wife work with you, which would be much worse. What are you doing here? Why were you on Sublevel D? And how did you get down there?"

Maggie tried to swallow but found her mouth had gone dry. When she had met the man before, she hadn't realized just how dangerous he really was. If she had, she certainly wouldn't have been quite as brazen as she had been. Now, she was plain terrified of him. "I... I... I..." A greenish hue tinged her face. "I think I'm going to be sick."

"Not on my carpet, you're not," the Master said in a daring tone, kicking a trash can towards her. When it was obvious that the woman wasn't bluffing on her prediction, he grimaced. "Reggie!" he shouted, his voice easily breaking through the door and into the reception area. A moment later, the door opened. The Time Lord gestured towards the ill human. "Do something. She's going to vomit."

"Oh dear." Reggie grabbed her arm. "Not in Mr. Saxon's office. I just had it cleaned. Come along now."

Maggie didn't realize just how grateful she was for the assistant's presence until he was hurrying her out of the room and down the hall.

The Master watched with a questioning frown as Maggie was pulled out of the room. "She really got ill from my questioning her? Seriously?"

Lothos broke his silence. "You really need to work on your interrogation techniques, Master. A woman is able to break the defenses that you told me couldn't be breached and all you do is cause her to throw up?"

"I have always found intimidation to work. Well... ninety-nine percent of the time. Ninety-eight. Can't say anyone has ever thrown up because of me before."

"I've found pain to be a much better motivator."

"That's Peri's forte. I was about to let her have a hand at interrogating her when she went green on us," the Master countered with a glare to the ceiling. "I love watching her work too."

"You say the most wonderful things, darling," Peri responded to his words, a smile on her face. "I've wanted to take a crack at her since we first met her in the Bush and she tried that sweet little professor act to get you around her finger. I have to say, if she'd kept that up any further I think I'd have been sick."

He shook his head. "Well, she saved you the trouble. Anyway, she knows something. I can taste it."

"Well, that's a no-brainer," Peri agreed. "But how could she know? We've been so careful to keep it hidden."

Lothos huffed. "It's obvious. Someone has been passing information to her."

The Master thought for a moment. "It's possible. But we don't know for certain that she does know our plans, only that she knows something and that I suddenly frighten her."

"We need to find out what she knows," Peri stated firmly.

The lights dimmed slightly. "Torture her."

"Always with the torturing," the Master complained slightly.

"Hate to say this but I'm with Lothos on this one," Peri stated.

"No. Torture at this point lacks style and finesse. I don't think she will respond to torture except to make a mess on the floor. And there's no guarantee that she'd give in to torture. Humans are an amazingly resilient race. Besides, we might need her. What use would she be to us if she's limping around, scared of her own shadow?"

"But you said..." Peri whimpered.

"I said I was about to give her over to you... but for intimidation. Sort of like foreplay in a manner of speaking."

"Oh... I like the sound of that," she purred.

"Oh, not that again," Lothos commented. "Haven't you heard? Honeymoons are supposed to be short, not constant!"

"We're having a Gallifreyan honeymoon," the Master replied, gazing into his wife's eyes. "Those can last millennia."

"I think I'd be sick if it was possible," Lothos groused. "All right, then what do you suggest we do to extract information from the intruder?" the non-corporal being asked with a hint of sarcasm in his voice.

"I am a telepath, you know. I can just go into her mind and get the information."

"Then get on with it. Don't know why you didn't do that to begin with. Would have saved time and having to witness the dramatics... much less to risk having to have the carpets cleaned again. Or a possible spontaneous breakout of lustful sex. I swear, I think Gallifreyans have more stamina than rabbits."

"Rabbits are rodents."

"And your point is?"

"Cool it, HAL, or I'll pull your sensory circuits out. Again."

A growling sound was the only response to the Master's threat.

Peri spoke up. "Actually, Lothos does have a point. If you can just get the information out of her head, why don't you do it?"

"Because I don't enjoy going into primitive minds unless I have to," the Master replied.

As he spoke, Reggie brought the woman back in. She looked pale but not ill anymore. She patted a wet paper towel to her forehead.

"Feeling better, I trust?" the Time Lord questioned.

"Not really, but I don't think you really care if I'm better or not, no matter that you try to convey such compassion in your public service announcements. It's just rot."

"Now, Dr. Hawthorne, if you were a little more cooperative, we wouldn't have to go through all this."

"I've already told you what I know. I got on the elevator and went the wrong way. I can't help it if your equipment malfunctions."

He exhaled slowly. "I really hate inferior species," he grumbled to himself. "Reginald, please see to it that Dr. Hawthorne is seated comfortably... the same way you made sure our old friend in Cardiff was comfortable."

"Yes. Of course." He reached into his pocket and pulled out a set of handcuffs.

"Oh... those are new, aren't they, Reggie?" Peri asked with interest.

"Yes. I thought they might add a little more... flare into your interrogations."

"What are new?" Maggie questioned, having not seen his actions. Upon seeing the handcuffs in the assistant's hand, she dropped her shoulders. "You've got to be flipping kidding me."

"Oh, no. When it comes to interrogations I never kid," Reggie assured her. "My employers take their work too seriously for such nonsense."

"I just bet they do," she replied.

Once she was handcuffed to the chair - a monumental task given how she struggled against them - the Master approached her and looked into her eyes. "Now I have two options. I can either hypnotize you or go right for the treasure."

"Which will cause more pain?" Peri asked.

"For me or her?" he questioned back.

"Minimize yours, maximize hers," she clarified.

"Damn," he grumbled. "I was hoping you'd go for minimize mine only." Seeing the eagerness on his beloved's face, he kissed her cheek. "The things I do for you, Peri Saxon." With that, he moved around the chair so that he was just behind Maggie. Then, without a word, he put his hands on either side of her head and closed his eyes in concentration.

Maggie grimaced as the Time Lord delved into her mind relentlessly. The grimace soon turned into gasps and then cries of pain and pleads for him to stop.

"Open your mind and it will hurt a lot less," the Master ordered. After a moment, her cries returned to whimpers and the Gallifreyan smiled. "There. That's better." He was silent for a moment. As he pressed into her mind, the words that sprang to her lips made little sense as she babbled away. The Master interpreted what he saw in her mind. "Meteorite," he said. "Her mind is on the meteorite. She's obsessed about it. But there's something else... something else..." His eyes snapped open. "Something's blocking my way into her mind." A hint of a grin reached his eyes. "I knew it!" he exclaimed, pulling away from her.

"What is it?" Peri asked. "Nothing she says is of any consequence. If I didn't know better, I'd say she was insane."

The lights flickered slightly as Lothos was interested in hearing his answer as well.

"That depends on your definition of insane. She's aligned herself with the Doctor. Only a Time Lord could put that kind of mental block in a human's mind and only the Doctor would care enough to do so to protect a human from being read by me. Besides, his signature is all over this one."

"The Doctor!" Lothos growled. "From what you've told me you're more than a match for the likes of him. Just break down the blocks and get on with your mind search."

"It's not that easy. The blocks in place are quite extensive. If I break down them by force, it will cause irreparable damage to her mind, which may just destroy any viable information we could have gotten from her in the first place." He looked to the owner of his hearts. "We may have to resort to your lovely methods, my dear."

"No!" Maggie exclaimed, terror on her face from what she had just endured. She wasn't sure what methods Peri Saxon was capable of but, based on how the woman wanted her to suffer as much as possible from the Master's probing, she knew she didn't want any part in it. She didn't know if she could handle any further actions against her. "Please..."

Peri ignored the woman. "If the Doctor has a plan we should do everything we can to learn what it is. If this woman can provide that, then we must do this right. Losing that opportunity would be foolish." She looked over to the Master. "However, we're prepared for him, aren't we?" Her words were more of a statement than a question.

"Oh, yes. More than prepared. The bioelectric field should stop him. And if it doesn't, we have plenty of security." He paused. "Still... she was on Sublevel D..." He took a deep breath. "Reggie? Let's just go take a look at that bioelectric field. Make sure that she hasn't tampered with it." He looked at the woman in the chair. "Have a couple of guards take her to a holding cell down below. Can't have her roaming around while my wife prepares her arsenal."

"What about the other woman? The one she claims not to know?" Peri questioned.

Lothos spoke up. "There's another spy and you can't find her? Your defenses appear to be faltering, Master."

The Master glared again at the ceiling. "They aren't faltering. There's just been an unexpected development due to the Doctor's involvement. If anything, the defenses have been too good and now our human guards have become lax." He turned to Peri. "Have them start a search for her. She's obviously still in the building. Get on the building's comm system and make an announcement in the form of an ultimatum. Either surrender or we will kill Dr. Hawthorne." He glanced at Reggie. "We don't have any contributors in the building, do we?"

"No, sir. That's tomorrow."

"Good. Have to keep up appearances, after all," the Master replied, giving Maggie a wicked smile.

Peri's mouth turned up in a grin. "I agree with your approach, dear. Should bring her right out of the woodwork."

"Call the guards. Get our new guest secured. Peri, I'll meet you in the dungeons when I'm finished. Come along, Reginald," he instructed, turning to leave the office.

Peri nodded and went to the Master's desk. Then, picking up the phone, she called the guards and instructed them to come to the Master's office. As she waited, she made the announcement over the loudspeakers. "Sarah Tyler. I know you can hear me. This is your only warning. You must immediately turn yourself in or your friend Dr. Hawthorne will suffer the consequences. That would be a fatal mistake on your part. You have ten minutes." Seeing the guards had arrived quickly, she allowed them to take Maggie away before heading towards the dungeons, anxious to play with their captive.


	9. Chapter 9

**Chapter 9**

The passkey in the Master's hand proved that Maggie had been lying about the elevators being out of order as he slid it into place and punched in the level before taking the key out. It took less than a minute for the elevator to take him down to Sublevel D, where he exited and marched to the secured room. Unlocking the door with his passkey, he stepped in and immediately noted that the bioelectric field generator was off.

Sam had continued to wait until he heard that the Doctor, Jack, and Glad were through the field. He wanted to leave and find Maggie but the Doctor had said to wait. Pacing, he heard the sound of the door handle turning. It was too soon for the Doctor to have reached him so he quickly grabbed his cloak and pulled it on, and then moved to the far corner of the room. As he did so the lights of the room flickered slightly and he suddenly had a sense of evil in the room. With a shiver, he watched the Master, aka Harold Saxon, enter the room followed by a thin, well-dressed man wearing "John Lennon" glasses. Immediately afterwards, a woman's voice came on over the intercom and he swallowed tightly hearing of Maggie's fate. He hoped that he'd be able to get to her soon.

The Master sighed as he looked at the generator. "Of course, she did," he muttered under his breath. Pressing several buttons, he immediately reset it to high capacity while Reggie looked around the room with interest.

At the moment that the Master reset the controls to turn on the biofield, Sam's heart fell. He hadn't heard from the Doctor or Jack that they were in and now... if they tried... all would fail. Still he couldn't do anything until he was alone. He pulled even further into the corner, hoping against hope that he'd be able to warn his friends to stay put. He was surprised when another voice entered the room.

The deep sarcastic voice filtered through the speakers. "So, not only did they get to Sublevel D, they were able to change the field. I submit that your security has been more than just breached, Master."

"Enough, HAL!" the Time Lord growled. "Just because the Doctor has found us does not mean he has Rassilon's chance in hell of doing anything about our plans. Sarah Tyler will be found and we will prevent any further interference as well as gain information from both her and Dr. Hawthorne. You know how talented my wife is at more... aggressive interrogations. As for the field, it won't be changed again. I can assure you that." Pulling out a cylindrical device from his jacket pocket, he changed the settings and aimed it at the generator before activating his screwdriver. A low pitched whine filled the room before he shut off the device and tucked it back into his pocket. "I've deadlocked the generator so that it cannot be shut off again." He looked up at the ceiling. "Satisfied?"

The lights dimmed. "All of that is fine and dandy. Still, with these breaches, I'm not sure you're going to be able to fulfill your promises to me. Remember, Beckett is the one that I want to hear screaming for mercy, not some professor from a geology department or your own nemesis."

"And our Master will provide said person to you, Lothos," Reggie responded. "We will retrieve the other woman, finish the Pi Network, destroy the Doctor, and then learn the location of Sam Beckett's project. Once those plans are fulfilled, you'll hear those sweet sounds to your heart's... or microchip's... content."

Shivers went up Sam's spine when he heard Lothos' name and what was in store for him if these people won. He swallowed tightly and scrunched into the smallest form he could to assure that the cloak would cover everything. He knew that if the Doctor's plan was going to work, he would need to reverse the field once more. Anything short of that and their mission would fail. Once again, his fear that this wouldn't happen in time gripped him.

"Very nice summary, Reginald," the Master complimented, gaining a nod of appreciation from his most loyal servant.

"You'd better keep your word, Master. I've funded this whole system for you at the sake of my own time experiments. Who knows? I might have already had Beckett in my clutches if the resources had been used to improve that system."

"And that system will be far superior to any you've ever seen once I'm done with it. I have already given you so much. All I am asking for is a little more time to achieve our goals."

The lights dimmed again. "A little time is all you will have. Once the final satellites are in place, I expect results. Do we understand each other?"

"Completely," the Master replied in a low tone. "You know, Lothos. With how you are complaining, one might think that you don't trust me."

"You know what they say: trust but verify. I've been waiting a long time to have my revenge on Dr. Beckett. I told you before, if it wasn't for him I wouldn't have been in that hell hole when my father died."

Sam didn't expect to hear this. He tried to figure it out and suddenly it dawned on him. Somehow Lothos was Ellington C. Wrightsworth, the third as he recalled. He hadn't died at sea as was assumed. He'd somehow become this... this... evil thing. In his surprise he could help a small sound from exiting his lungs. _Damn!_ he thought to himself. He held his breath, sure that he'd be found out now. Fear washed over him as he realized that if Lothos did capture him, hell would be too gentle of a word for what he'd experience.

The Master turned his head rapidly at the sound. "What was that?" he demanded as he walked further into the generator room, scanning it with his eyes. "There's someone here. I can feel it."

Lothos scanned the room in the direction that the sound had come from. Suddenly, the being laughed humorlessly. "Oh, great telepath you are. You're reading a mouse." The tiny creature had stopped and was waiting to move again once danger passed. Instead, Lothos aimed his laser at the innocent animal and vaporized it. "There. Gone. Unless you think rodents can topple your empire."

"It's not the mouse," the Time Lord told him tightly. "There is someone in here."

"Sure there is. Me, you and your lacky," Lothos answered simply.

The Master glared at the ceiling. "He's my assistant."

"You could have fooled me," came the derogatory response.

"I'd rather be the Master's lackey than once again be a cog in your mind-numbing employ," Reggie stated haughtily. "I believe Mistress Peri expects us, sir."

The Master exhaled with frustration at having been bested by Lothos. While he appreciated Reggie's show of solidarity towards him, it wasn't enough to calm him or to cancel out the feeling that there indeed was someone in the generator room. Stepping out of the generator room, he waited for Reggie to follow and closed the door. Pulling out his sonic screwdriver again, he locked the door behind him, determination clear on his features as he marched away.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

The Doctor ended the phone conversation with Sam, concern clear on his face. Looking at Jack and Glad sitting at the same cafe table as him, he exhaled slowly. "The Master's taken Margaret," he told them bluntly.

"What? I hope he doesn't decide to do something stupid like try to rescue her without us. All of us are expendable until we prevent the Master's takeover of the world."

"He understands that," the Time Lord responded, standing from the table.

Glad blinked at the news. "We've got to save her. He'll torture her or, like the Doctor says, go into her mind."

"We'll take care of Margaret, Glad, as soon as we can. Don't worry about the Master going into her mind, though. I've taken care of that, remember? And unless he can figure out how to reverse my suggestion, which he can't, she won't reveal anything to him. Meanwhile, we have to stay the course. The field is down." He turned and walked towards the door.

Jack agreed. "We won't leave her, Glad. First thing's first, though." He gestured for her to follow the Doctor, bringing up the rear himself. As they moved towards the building, the sound of cars' brakes squealing coupled with the loud blare of a horn and some screams filled the air. Jack looked back and saw one vehicle careening out of control and other cars doing what they could to get out of the way as people scrambled for safety. He noticed a woman who had frozen in place, the car barreling down on her and ran, pushing her out of the way at the last moment. Instead the vehicle struck the ex-Time Agent sending him into the air. He landed a good twenty feet away, crumpled in a heap. Meanwhile the car which hit him came to an abrupt stop into the corner of the building across the street from the Prometheus Institute. The front end of the car was crushed.

Glad screamed in fright at all that had happened in a matter of seconds, herself frozen in fear of what she'd seen. The Gallifreyan also was naturally stunned, though his reaction resulted in silence before jumping into immediate action. "Glad, check on Jack." Without bothering to inform her of his intentions, he ran to the wrecked automobile. Looking into the driver's side, he noticed that the driver, a middle-aged man, was wounded but alive and showed signs of confusion and what could be shock or any number of medical reasons. He told the driver to stay calm as he examined him further. Seeing the top of a sealed package holding a hypodermic in the person's breast pocket, he realized the driver was likely diabetic and was suffering from the results of massively low blood sugar which would certainly explain the erratic driving. He pulled the package from the pocket and noted that the medicine it held was indeed insulin. Ripping open the package, he injected the driver with the insulin. By the time he was finished, a crowd had gathered. "Someone needs to call an ambulance. This man is diabetic. He has injuries and a concussion."

"I've called Triple Zero and they have an ambulance on the way," a woman in the crowd called out.

"I'm a nurse. I can help," another woman stated as she moved closer to the car.

"Good woman. I leave him in your capable hands. I need to check on my friend."

"Are you a doctor?" the nurse asked.

"Yes, I am," he confirmed. "But I haven't done it professionally in a very, very long time. Excuse me."

"Oh," the woman responded, watching him move quickly to the man who'd been hit by the car. She shook her head, understanding that it was unlikely that the retired doctor's friend was alive. Then she turned her attention to the driver.

The Time Lord hurried to Jack's side, kneeling beside Glad who had Jack's head in her lap. "How is he?" he murmured as he got to his knees as well.

Before Glad could respond, a voice spoke up. "He died saving my life."

The Doctor recognized the woman as the one Jack had shoved out of the way. She was obviously in shock but others around her were taking care of her medical needs. "I'm sure he's just unconscious," he replied, knowing that the woman's assessment was correct but not wanting to frighten her the moment Jack came back to the here and now.

"I hope you're right, mate," a man in the crowd said with a tone that conveyed he didn't believe that prognosis.

As if to negate the man's disbelief, Jack gasped in a breath of air as his eyes flew open, deep emotion flowing from them. He jolted physically at the same time, reflecting just how painful coming back from the dead was for him.

Glad startled at Jack's sudden reaction but quickly reverted to doing her best to calm him. "I'm here, Jack. Don't be afraid," she soothed. The man's eyes searched out hers and appeared to find comfort in them.

"I'm not afraid... at least not anymore," he told her, his bravado spilling back into him.

"You okay?" the Time Lord questioned, his own concern for him revealed in his eyes. For just a moment he had the strangest feeling of what life would be like without his friend. While the idea that a fixed point in time and space wouldn't be tugging in his mind anymore - an annoyance he had learned to live with - the idea of losing Jack, impossibleness and all, hurt him deeper than he could possibly imagine.

Jack started to get up to the amazement of the crowd. "Yeah. Just a little bruised. It'll go away in a minute." He looked down at his coat. "Damnit. Nobody move. I've lost a button."

The Doctor grinned at his comment. "I'll find you another. Might even steal it off of your own coat."

The group around them applauded the hero and a thirty something man brought up a button. "Is this it?"

Jack looked at it with a broad smile. "Yeah. Thanks." He extended his hand to the man. "Captain Jack Harkness."

"Jack, we don't have time to flirt," the Gallifreyan told him.

"Right," Jack answered, taking the button. "Maybe next time." He gave the man a wink and then followed the Doctor and Glad, who were already moving towards the building. They were about to cross the property threshold when Glad ordered them to stop.

Jack groaned. "What? I told you, everything's all right."

"No... it isn't," Glad contradicted. "The biofield is up."

"No, it's not. You heard what Sam said. He turned it off."

"The Master turned it back on."

"And, pray tell, how would you know that?"

"She's clairvoyant, remember?" the Doctor pointed out, concentrating on the emptiness before him as if he could find the field with his bare eyes.

"I remember. I just don't..." At that moment, both Jack's and the Doctor's phones beeped at the same time. Jack was quickest at opening his phone. He looked at the text message. "It's Sam."

The Doctor turned back to Jack from his attempt to locate the invisible barrier. "Let me guess. The field's up?" He checked his phone and saw the same message.

Jack nodded. "Yeah."

Glad grinned smugly. "Told you so."

"Don't be a smartass, Galadriel," Jack answered.

"Jack! Watch your language," the Doctor scolded.

"Forget it, Doctor. I've already been corrupted," Glad responded.

"Back to the coffee shop, then?" Jack questioned. "Sam said not to text back so we'll have to wait for him to contact us again."

The Gallifreyan shook his head. "I enjoy playing with yo-yos, not beinga yo-yo. We wait here." He paused. "Well, over there. At the bus stop. Don't want to call attention to ourselves loitering outside the Prometheus Institute."

"Absolutely not. Not that we have been doing that with what just happened with that accident," Jack stated.

"As much as I agree that you saving that woman's life was a good thing, you seemed quite intent on remaining and soaking up the limelight and flirting with the locals," the Doctor teased.

"Hey, I stopped when you pointed out that we had a deadline, didn't I?"

"Can you two discuss this at the bus stop?" Glad pointed out. "Right now, two alpha males bickering in the street aren't giving me a lot of confidence in this mission."

The Doctor raised an eyebrow. "Blimey. You've gotten a lot bolder since I picked you up." A moment later, he frowned. "You think I'm an alpha male, trying to show myself as superior to other males? Well, I am but that's beside the point."

Jack laughed. "And you talk about my ego? I guarantee I have nothing on yours."

"You're sardonic when you've been bested," the Time Lord taunted as he started for the bus stop.

"That's because I'm an alpha male!" Jack stated firmly as he followed.

Glad just shook her head. "Men."

DWQLTWDWQLTW

Margaret had been roughly taken down to the dungeons and had been thrown into a grungy small room with cement walls on three sides and a plexiglass wall that faced into the corridor. The wall itself had a plexiglass door with four rows of small round airholes, two in the center of the door and two towards the bottom. She could see the woman she knew as the Master's wife outside the cell speaking with the other man as if asking for something. She couldn't hear anything distinctive - just a muttering of voices - but saw the Master stride into the room outside the glass, obviously upset. He began to talk to his wife adamantly and she saw the man in the Lennon glasses trying to calm him. The Master, though, kept glaring at the ceiling, obviously upset. When she finally understood anything being said, it didn't bode well in her view.

"There _is_ someone in that room and I'm going to prove it!" Suddenly, he came to her cell and used something that looked like the Doctor's sonic screwdriver to open the door. "You're coming with me. I'm going to prove to this monstrosity of silicon chips that I'm right." He looked up at the ceiling again, hissing, "I'm not going to take your snide and sarcastic remarks either, HAL." Grabbing Maggie's arm, he pulled her roughly to the elevator, his assistant and Mrs. Saxon following. Soon they stood outside a door on the level she knew the generator room was on. "Reggie, check to make sure the door's still locked." When the man confirmed it was, the Time Lord pulled out his screwdriver again, unlocking the door and throwing Maggie into the room so that she landed on her knees. "Hold her," he ordered Reggie, a dangerous look on his face as he relocked the door. He took a slow look around the room as he moved to stand in front of Maggie. "I know you are near, Ms. Tyler," he said in a raised voice. "And I know you can hear me. You heard the ultimatum. I want you to understand clearly just how serious I am. Show yourself now or your friend suffers."

Sam had heard voices as he finished texting Jack and the Doctor to let them know the biofield was up again, hoping against hope he wasn't too late. He also hoped they would heed his request not to respond as he'd heard the sound of people returning and he didn't want the sound of a text coming in to tip off whoever it was. He pulled the cloak over himself again just in time and his heart fell as he saw Maggie being used as a bait to pull him from his hiding place. He normally didn't experience the fear he'd felt ever since he'd learned what was in store for him from the overheard conversation. It wasn't just the certainty of his own fate that caused that fear, but rather knowing what the world would be like if they failed. Now, seeing Maggie he felt traitorous for not allowing himself to surrender. The logic was simple. He had to keep hidden or else the Doctor wouldn't have a chance to save the world from this monster.

Not getting any response, the Master adjusted his screwdriver, which he had upgraded to do much more than simple sonic activity. "Extend her arm," he ordered. Then, with Maggie's arm exposed, he pressed the tip of the screwdriver against her skin and turned it on.

Maggie screamed as the pain entered her arm, the feeling burning her. Still she knew she had to give her partner strength. She hadn't known Sam long but knew he cared deeply and would be willing to put himself on the line if he thought that was the right thing to do. She looked up at the Master, hatred and tears in her eyes, "I told you. I don't know a Ms. Tyler but if I did I'd tell her that no one is worth giving the world to you. You are evil. Pure evil."

"I'll take that as a compliment," the Gallifreyan told her. "But I know you're lying. Your partner is in here with us." He turned to the seemingly empty room. "How many more times shall I hurt her?" he called out. He pressed the screwdriver just below her collarbone and activated it again, causing the woman to cry out in agony a second time.

Still in the corner, Sam saw and heard everything. He closed his eyes and prayed internally. _Please God, help her. Forgive me but I can't give in._ As he was thinking these words, the Master pressed the screwdriver to her again. He couldn't help himself as tears pooled in his eyes, knowing that his capitulation would save her for now at the same time as damning the world and her as well. He stayed hidden.

The Master was about to inflict another burning sensation upon the Professor when he felt Peri's hand on his. "Harry..." she started. She leaned forward to whisper into his ear. "You're making yourself appear foolish."

"You doubt me?!"

"No!" she put in quickly. "Never."

The light increased as Lothos observed the pain the woman was experiencing. "Master, there is no one here but, by all means, continue. I'm enjoying your display. How far do you plan to go?"

"I'm not mad!" the Master shouted towards the ceiling. He looked around at the faces regarding him. Peri and Reggie looked at him with genuine concern, though their faith in him still shone in their eyes. "Take her away!" he ordered with a wave of his hand. "We'll continue this elsewhere."

Sam watched as Maggie was pulled roughly up and out of the room. He closed his eyes again. "Thank you," he whispered silently, only his lips moving. He knew that Maggie wasn't out of danger but he felt God had answered his prayer removing Maggie from this particular situation. He vowed he'd find her and get her to safety.

The Master gave a brief glance back into the room before closing and locking the door. He followed Reggie and Peri briskly, furious that he hadn't been able to persuade the person in the generator room - and he still was certain that someone was in there or at the very least within listening distance in the airshafts - to show.

Lothos had watched the Master losing it. He felt certain that this might be the time to unhitch himself from the plans that had been made, at least a bit. He decided that it would be a good idea to redirect himself to his new outpost in the Republic of Myao, a small country in Indonesia. Part of him wanted to see what happened with the woman the Master had tortured but he decided to test the channel connecting Melbourne with the land he had purchased from the military junta. "If you learn anything, call me. I tire of these antics," he told his partner.

"You never did have much patience, did you?" the Master grumbled as he started to follow Peri and their prisoner, who stumbled as she was forced her along, returning her to her cell and leaving the door open to allow them access to her.

Maggie looked into the corridor nervously. "What are you going to do to me?"

"You've got a mind block in your head," the Gallifreyan told her bluntly. "The Doctor put it there which means you know something he doesn't want me to know." He blinked for a moment. "And from the way you were blatantly lying in my office and in the generator room, you know full well what it is that he doesn't want me to know. So, that leaves me with two options. I can either let my wife convince you to divulge this information or I can get it forcibly from your mind. Either way, it's going to be very hard on you. Unless of course you just tell me without coercion." He wiggled his screwdriver in his hand as a reminder of what he had done to her before.

Having heard what the world would be like if the Doctor lost this battle, Maggie closed her eyes, knowing that this could be the last decision she ever made. If the world was going to fall, she wasn't going to be the one who allowed that willingly. With some of the fire she had shown when she thought that this monster was just the arrogant Harold Saxon, CEO of the Prometheus Institute, she stood up straight. "Do your worst. I won't cooperate with evil incarnate."

The Master's lips curled into a cruel grin. "Ah, a Doctor's companion. I wouldn't have expected any other answer. But evil incarnate? Are those the words he used? Evil incarnate? Sounds like the title of a really bad B-movie." The grin faded immediately. "And you really don't know just how bad our worst can be. Allow my beautiful wife to demonstrate. Reggie, please secure Dr. Hawthorne appropriately. Oh, and a snack would be lovely. Can't watch entertainment without one, you know," he finished, a taunting smile towards the stubborn professor.

"May I use my latest toy on her?" Peri questioned at Reggie obeyed his Master's orders.

"Definitely. She has defied us, after all. I think a correction is in line, don't you?"

"Yes. I do." She called to the man who was finishing putting the woman in restraints. "Reggie, my belt sander. Bring the drill as well." The assistant gave a nod and went to retrieve the requested items.

"If you think this is going to convince me to talk, torture or not, I'll never break!" Maggie said with false bravado.

The Master laughed at her words. "Please, Dr. Hawthorne. Against a belt sander? I think you'll break." He looked around the corridor and found a chair. Sitting in it, he waited for the show to start as he drummed his fingers on his knee in a familiar four-beat rythmn.

The moment turned to a minute and one minute to five as the pair taunted her and took their turns abusing her in an attempt to get her to talk before "toys" arrived. After a good fifteen minutes, Reggie finally returned with only the drill. "The belt sander isn't where it's supposed to be."

"What?" Peri exclaimed, slight panic and anger in her voice. "But Harry gave that to me as a birthday present. I know I put it away; I never leave it out."

"I know, Mistress Peri," Reggie agreed. "It appears that a workman may have borrowed it. There were large dusty footprints leading up to the cabinet."

The growl of fury from her lips was almost animalistic. "When I find whoever took my belt sander, I'm going to use it on him until there's nothing left!"

"So I surmised. I took a couple of extra minutes to put in an order for supplemental belts," Reggie informed. "In the meantime, will the drill be sufficient or would you prefer I obtain another tool as well?"

"Oh, this is taking too long," the Master grumbled. "Sorry, Peri, dear, but we really need to cut to the chase."

"But… you said I could torture her! It's not my fault some imbecile doesn't know how to keep his grubby little hands to himself!" Seeing the glare that said her husband wouldn't allow any argument, she huffed. "I really was looking forward to using my belt sander," she murmured under her breath.

"You really must forgive my wife. She doesn't take disappointment well," the Master told Margaret.

The woman blinked, looking over to the fuming female, figuring she was psychotic. "I can see that."

"But, regardless of that, we are still quite determined to get the truth from you." He stood up from his seat and walked into the cell. Bending down, he stage whispered into her ear so that Peri and Reggie could hear, his hot breath tingling on the Professor's neck. "Have you really looked at this room? Concrete bench. No windows to speak of except the door. Hard, bare walls. The perfect place to hypnotize someone. Ah, but you've already been hypnotized, haven't you? What the Doctor probably didn't tell you is that I'm much more talented than him with that particular art. And once I have you, I'll be able to do all sorts of horrible little things to that puny ape mind of yours." He looked into her eyes, instantly gaining her attention. "I am the Master and you will obey me."

Instead of obeying him, she dropped unconscious, not knowing that those words - which the Doctor knew his nemesis would use - were the cue for that particular post-hypnotic response.

"Oh, very good!" the Master exclaimed, a grin on his face. "Brilliant, in fact. You have really gotten much better, Doctor."

Peri looked at him. "What happened? I gave up using my drill for this? I thought you were cutting to the chase. You're not cutting anything!"

"I did cut to the chase and this is what the chase scene looks like," came the response.

"I don't understand. We didn't learn anything."

"Oh, yes, we did. The Doctor has really gotten much better at hypnotizing people."

"And you think that's good?"

"Not good. Just impressive. Very impressive. And we also learned that he really knows me well."

"Impressive or not, we still know nothing of his plans. What do you suggest we do now?"

"Nothing," he replied.

"Nothing?"

"Unless you know a way of waking her up from her sleep and removing the post-hypnotic reaction she's going to have every time I try to hypnotize her. The Doctor obviously knew that I would try to hypnotize her if she were caught and gave her this particular reaction to my words. In addition, I doubt that the drill would have worked on her either as I'm sure the Doctor has made it so that she goes unconscious before any serious damage could be done to her physically. She's going to stay unconscious until she's revived by someone she trusts, which certainly isn't either of us." He shook his head. "We could go on guessing how to bypass the reaction until we're blue in the face or we can lock her in here and wait until her rescuer comes to retrieve her, which he will. I know the Doctor very well too. Thus, I already know some of what the Doctor is planning." He turned to his lover. "The fact that he's using this human means he's figured out what the meteor is. He's coming and he wants the Eye."


	10. Chapter 10

**Chapter 10**

Once the Master left the room, Sam waited for a few moments. He heard the door being locked and from the whine knew that the Master's sonic screwdriver had again been employed. Taking off the cloak once more, he pulled the sonic screwdriver he'd found in the cache out of his pocket. "Two can play at that game." He went over to the biofield generator and used the sonic screwdriver that was obviously a model made before the Doctor's current one. It wasn't as fancy or elegant, but he had to admit, it was handy. "Would love to have something like this on my leaps. Would make things much easier." With that, he went to work, attempting to shut off the biofield in order to alter its settings. Finding that shutting it off was impossible - he didn't know what the Master had done to prevent such a thing - he let out a sigh of frustration. "Damn it!" he complained, pulling out his cell phone and texting to the Doctor and Jack, *Did you get my last message?* A moment later, the phone vibrated at the same moment as a text came in. Sam answered the phone first.

"Yeah, I know. I said texting only but I've never been good at texting," the Doctor said the minute Sam replied. "How can anyone type using only their thumbs?"

"It's not that hard, Doctor," Jack answered, overhearing.

The Time Lord turned his head to reply to the immortal man when he noticed what he was doing. "Did you just... reply with a text?"

"Yes, he did and it's great to hear your voices," Sam answered with a relieved exhalation. "I was afraid I'd been too late to warn you."

"Actually... you probably would have been," the Time Lord told him. "We were just about to walk onto the property when Glad ordered us to stop. Your text came in about fifteen seconds after we would have already gone through."

"How did she..." Sam started but then stopped himself. "No, wait. That's not important at the moment. What is important is that the Master was in here and did something that's locked the controls for the biofield in place. Even with this sonic screwdriver, I can't do anything to change that!"

"Wait a minute. The Master has a sonic screwdriver? How'd he get a sonic screwdriver? He never had a sonic screwdriver before. He had a tissue compression eliminator... nasty thing that was. Shrunk people into the size of 6" dolls..." Jack gave him a nudge, forcing him to get back to the subject at hand. "Knowing the Master, he probably deadlocked it to prevent further tampering." Instantly, something Sam had said caught his attention. "Hold on again. What sonic screwdriver are you talking about that you can't use to change the settings on the controls? The Master's? If you are, then you are definitely one hell of a pickpocket."

"Um... no. I'm not a pickpocket. I found a sonic screwdriver in the cache Jack had us check out."

"Wh... wh... h... h... how'd you find another screwdriver?!" the Doctor exclaimed. "What was Torchwood doing with a screwdriver?"

Jack's ears perked up. "What? A sonic screwdriver? Sam's got a sonic screwdriver from Torchwood? That means it's mine. Those things are so cool."

Sam answered at the same time. "I have no idea. It doesn't have the blue light on it like yours does but it's similar in shape and size."

"No, it is not yours. Bad enough that you have a non-functioning vortex manipulator that acts more like a sensor than anything," the Gallifreyan told Jack bluntly.

"Ah, that's just not fair," Jack pouted.

The Time Lord lowered his voice. "Does it have an odd little red disc on the end?"

Sam nodded unconsciously as he answered. "Yeah. It does. Does that mean something?"

Jack spoke up once more. "Of course, since it was in Torchwood's property and I'm the head of Torchwood and Quantum Leap and Sam's by definition my employee..."

"Th... that's _my_ screwdriver!" the Time Lord exclaimed.

"Your screwdriver? You already have a screwdriver," Jack said, realizing that the possibility of his keeping the desired object was become even less likely.

Glad sighed in exasperation. "Is that all you men can talk about? Screwdrivers? Can we figure that out _after_ we save the world?" The girl rolled her eyes. "Men," she grumbled again.

"Well, Sam obviously found the one I'd lost during my eighth incarnation, leading me to build the one that currently resides in my jacket pocket," the Doctor answered Jack, ignoring Glad's plea.

Sam, though, heard it loud and clear. "Um... guys? We have a problem. Didn't you hear? I can't lower the biofield and I'm not sure how much time we have." He paused, his soul breaking since he wasn't sure the decision he'd made hadn't resulted in Maggie's death. "When the Master came back... he somehow knew I was in here despite the invisibility cloak. My guess is that he could feel my presence because he threatened Maggie in front of me. He..." Sam stopped again and took a breath before pushing on, "...he said that if I didn't show myself, he'd kill Maggie." As if fighting his own decision he added, "But I couldn't. If I did, you wouldn't have a chance to stop him and he has to be stopped. Now, though, I might have given her up for nothing if you can't get in here."

"We'll find her and rescue her, Sam," the Doctor told him reassuringly. "We are not leaving until we accomplish our mission and we are all leaving together. Now, the Master has deadlocked the controls to keep the field up. That does put a damper on the plan for me to reprogram the field in person but that doesn't mean that we are rowing up the Thames on a raft. Can you make any changes to the field at all?"

"Hey, put him on speakerphone," Jack requested, shifting his position to be closest to the conversation. The Doctor complied as Glad moved in as well, creating a small circle just in front of the bus stop.

"I think I can get into the computer system that runs it," Sam said after a quick perusal.

"Brilliant. If you can, then we have a chance," came the Gallifreyan's response. "What does the computer system look like? Any sort of interface you can use? A keypad? Keyboard? Touchscreen? Buttons and levers?" He paused before adding, "Little round holes in a flat surface?"

He pushed a few buttons and a panel slid to the left. "Touchscreen," Sam stated. "And the system's probably been coded in Gallifreyan."

"What makes you think that, I mean other than the fact that the Master is a Time Lord and therefore his primary language would be Gallifreyan?"

"Because all the icons and interfaces are in Gallifreyan."

"Pretty language," Jack commented. "Kind of hard to miss... and hard to read."

"Not that hard," Sam said, obviously preoccupied. "Syntax is somewhat different and conceptual symbolism can get a bit... esoteric... but otherwise..."

"It's a beautiful, rich language!" the Doctor protested his native tongue being critiqued. "Just because you can't understand the complexities of multi-level conceptual dialect doesn't mean that it's esoteric. It's not an elitist language in the least."

"Seems a bit esoteric to me," Jack responded, gaining a glare from the Time Lord. "Seriously, how many people other than you and the Master can read, write, and speak it?"

Glad rolled her eyes. "First one-up-manship, then screwdrivers, and now reading? Do you men ever just get down to the problem at hand?"

Sam's voice could be heard muttering over the phone as Glad berated the three of them. "A mathematical progression lock using an infinity sequence. Clever."

"What?" the Doctor suddenly questioned. He raised his hand to stop Glad from repeating herself and focused on the phone in his hand as if he could see Sam through it. "What was that you just said? Did you... read that?"

"Yes. I thought I said that." He suddenly exclaimed, "I'm in, Doctor. You're going to have to help me with the coding, though. Reading Shakespeare is one thing, coding a computer, completely different."

"You learned to read Gallifreyan from Shakespeare?" questioned the stunned alien.

"No. I learned to read Gallifreyan from reading the books in your library. There were some Gallifreyan translations of Shakespearean plays. I found Hamlet to be the best one to use like a Rosetta stone. Comparison between the words in English and the same passages in Gallifreyan allowed me to figure out the language. Well, a good part of the language anyway. The phrase change from 'get thee to a nunnery' to 'go to the house of the Sisterhood of Karn' was a bit of a stretch."

"It was the best I could do, considering Gallifrey never had nunneries," the Doctor defended himself. "The closest thing to a nunnery was the Sisterhood of Karn and that wasn't even on Gallifrey. It was on... well... Karn."

"Wait a minute," Jack exclaimed. "You translated Hamlet into Gallifreyan? Why?"

"Why not? I wrote quite a bit of it."

"Yeah. I can see some of your mental fingerprints throughout it," Sam stated.

The Gallifreyan preened at his words.

"Doctor... the computer?" Glad said, bringing him back down from his slight ego trip.

"Right. Coding. What are you looking at, Sam? Describe everything in detail. Gallifreyan is very complex. The wrong line here or there and you could lock the whole thing permanently."

Over the next twenty minutes, Sam and the Doctor discussed and determined how to recode the biofield generator's computer programming to allow the three to enter into the Prometheus Institute without tripping the biofield's deadly defenses. When they had done everything that both of them could think of to achieve their goal, there was a silent pause.

"I guess that's it," the Doctor said, wariness in his voice.

"You guess?" Jack questioned with concern. "Doctor, that thing is permanently deadly to you. There's no room for guessing."

"And I can't be absolutely positive without seeing the settings myself. Sam may be able to read Gallifreyan but even he admits coding language is not the same thing."

"See! We should have gotten camera phones... for everyone," Glad stated emphatically.

"Gawd, I hate it when she's right," Jack groused.

"Especially when she didn't get what she wanted," the Doctor added.

Glad stuck her tongue out for good measure before the group grew serious again.

Sam's voice came across the phone. "I'm sure I've put everything in correctly, Doctor."

"We'll have to trust that you did, Samuel." Turning to the others, the Time Lord finally said, "They say the proof's in the pudding or some such nonsense. No time like the present to find out if Sam's right." He stood and starting towards the building.

"Hold on there," Jack stopped him. "You're not going in first."

"I'm not?" Seeing the expression on his friend's face, he told him, "You could be killed. Good, properly, and permanently killed. That's a biofield originally set for artron energy and you are practically made of the time vortex. If we reset it incorrectly..."

"I may die but the money's still on me coming back to life, even if it is reset incorrectly. Besides, if I do get in, then we can be sure that you two will get through without a problem."

Again a feeling of deja vu hit the Doctor but Jack had a point. "I don't like it... but..." The Time Lord took a deep breath before nodding slowly. "Very well. Good luck."

"Luck has nothing to do with it," Jack quipped before leaving the bus stop and heading for the building. Once he was inside the perimeter, he turned and gave a smile to the others. "Tell Sam he's brilliant."

The Doctor grinned broadly, putting the phone to his ear as he and Glad followed. "You're brilliant. Or so Jack says."

"Nice to have the boss recognize your accomplishments," Sam quipped back. "I take it the biofield's been properly adjusted?"

"Perfectly. It'll allow anything living through it now. We should be through the fire exit door and on our way to the stairwell. Should be at your location in five minutes."

"The Master has locked the door from the outside. I'm not sure I can get out."

"Have you tried the sonic? My sonic is better than his... hopefully."

"I have. But maybe the one you have now will work better."

"I have updated since losing that old one..." the Doctor reminisced. "We'll know in four minutes. If it doesn't work, we'll improvise. Right now, we need to hang up. Don't want to be overheard."

"Right," Sam answered, closing his phone. Four minutes later, he could hear muffled sound of people outside the room. He hoped it was the Doctor, et al, but, to be safe, he put on the cloak.

There was a high pitched buzz and the clank of the metal door being opened before a distinctly cockney voice questioned, "Anyone call for a Doctor?"

Throwing off the cloak, Sam smiled over to the other man. "I'm glad you're here." Then his face turned quite serious. "And since you are... I'm going after Maggie," he said with conviction.

"No, you're not," the Doctor ordered. "You are going back up into the main building and make sure it is completely evacuated before I reset the field again."

"Doctor, didn't you hear me earlier? The Master said he was going to kill her if I didn't show myself. I can't be the cause of her death."

"He won't kill her," came the blunt reply.

"He was quite specific," Sam pressed on.

"I'm sure he has every intention of killing her eventually but not until he gets what he wants from her. He very likely tried to read her mind and found the block. He also very likely tried to hypnotize her, in which case she's taking a bit of a kip and he can't break the block if she's unconscious. She'll be safe as long as that block is still up and it will be until one of us wakes her."

"You knew he was going to do this?"

"I suspected it might happen if anyone was captured, thus the reason you were all hypnotized." He regarded the leaper whose determination was practically palpable before examining the room with discerning eyes. Almost immediately, he straightened with authority. "Change of plans," he stated firmly. "Sam... find Maggie and get out. Glad will take care of the building."

"Wait a minute!" Glad started.

"Doctor?" Jack questioned. It wasn't that he didn't know the Gallifreyan was no stranger to quick decisions and change in plans. It was just that he didn't think he'd let the girl out of his sight.

"She's safer out of this building than in it," the Doctor explained. Then, speaking to Sam, he instructed. "Go. Get Maggie. And be careful." Getting assurances from the physicist that he would, the Doctor extended his hand to Glad. "Separate the Eye from your pendant and give them to me."

"I'm not leaving you!" Glad insisted, clutching her pendant tightly.

"We don't have time to argue this. It's far too dangerous in here," the Time Lord insisted.

"We've already argued this," she countered. "I'm not leaving you. Besides, I have the pendant," she said, playing her trump card smugly.

"She's right, Doctor," Jack agreed.

"Whose side are you on?" the Doctor questioned.

"I thought we were all on the same side. Defeating the Master. Right?"

The alien ignored Jack's comment and took Glad's shoulders. "I can't lose you. You remember the nightmares now. You know what losing you will do to me."

"You need me, Doctor," she told him gently. "You can't do this without me." Seeing the hesitation in his eyes, she continued. "You taught me so much these last few weeks. And the one thing that really stood out was that I should never doubt my abilities. Right now, everything I know tells me that I have to go with you on this."

The Doctor looked into Glad's blue eyes, his hearts pounding with uncertainty. He couldn't help it. He wanted her safe but at the same time he knew she was right. He needed her with him to stop the Master. He opened his mouth, about to once again order her to hand over the White Eye.

Jack watched the back and forth going on between the Doctor and Glad. As they were arguing about whether she stayed or left, he went over to a small red box on the wall and pulled the lever. Suddenly, the sound of an alarm went off. "Problem solved," Jack said leaning against the wall.

The Time Lord turned towards Jack. "What did you just do?" he exclaimed, panic in his voice.

"I'm evacuating the building. Isn't that what you wanted?"

"Yeah, but I didn't want you to advertise our presence!"

"Well, you didn't specify."

"I didn't think I needed too!" Growling in frustration, he quickly turned to the biofield controls, finding the touch screen that Sam had been using only minutes before. "It's just like you to make things complicated," he complained as he worked frantically. "I had time before. Thirty minutes to set it up before activating it. Now, I've got... what? Fifteen?"

"I'd say fourteen," Glad warned, her eyes wide with concern, gaining another growl of frustration from the Gallifreyan.

"I have faith in you, Doctor," the immortal told him honestly. "You are, after all, the Doctor. Time Lord Extraordinaire."

The Time Lord grinned broadly before refocusing his efforts, his fingers moving more rapidly than most humans. While still typing away, he called out to Jack. "Tell me when everyone is out," he ordered, knowing that the ex-Time Agent could do just that with his vortex manipulator.

It felt like no time at all before Jack gave the head's up. "That means they're going to start looking for what caused that alarm," he cautioned.

"One minute," the Doctor assured. "Rerouting power away from the primary buffer..." He grimaced. "It's not going to be pretty but... HA!"

"How are we going to get out?" Jack pointed out as he realized the ramifications of what the Doctor had just done. "You've locked us inside the field!"

"Just like the Delta wave, Jack," the alien responded somberly. He turned to look his friend directly in the eyes. "There was no other choice. Sometimes, you've got to make some compromises in order to get the job done."

"He'll kill you," Jack said, his voice raw.

"Only if we fail and even then I don't think he will."

"Worse than that," Glad whispered, tears in her eyes.

The Doctor looked into their eyes. "The original plan was based on suppositions which turned out to be false. Even if I got the twenty minutes I needed to do the job thoroughly, this would still be the solution based on this system, which I wasn't completely sure of until we got here in person. I just wouldn't have sore fingers. Well, actually there would have been one other part of the solution... neither of you would be in the room with me."

The Captain saw the resolution in the Gallifreyan's eyes. "You son of a bitch. You were planning to give yourself up the entire time."

"Not the entire time. Only after I saw the system and realized the original plan was not going to work. Then the plan became resetting the field, having Glad give me the Eye and the pendant, and getting the lot of you out before surrendering and finishing the mission on my own. You, Jack, changed it again by pulling that fire alarm."

"And a damned good thing I did too."

Glad looked between the two of them. "Do you always do this when things get intense?"

"Improvise by the seat of my trousers? Absolutely. More fun that way," the Doctor replied. "That is, of course, unless my friends are in life and death situations and refuse to listen."

"Like I said, it's a good thing I did refuse," Jack said with a glint in his eye, bouncing slightly on his feet. "I know how to get us out of here."

"You do?" his two friends questioned with surprise. Before Jack could respond, the sound of voices from above them, obviously coming through the ventilation shafts, told them they had run out of time.

Glad looked at the two men. "Umm. You know, we can figure this out later. In the meantime, I suggest we run."

"Works for me!" the Doctor agreed, taking the lead as the trio dashed into the corridor away from the sound of running footsteps. They'd passed through several corridors and were rounding a corner when the Doctor skidded to a halt at the sight of three guards blocking their path, Jack and Glad following suit.

"Is that the female?" one guard asked.

"No. But these three don't have badges either."

Jack spoke up. "Badges? We don't need no stinkin' badges." He looked at the Doctor. "Sorry, always wanted to say that."

The Doctor rolled his eyes at his words. "Umm... we're... looking for the fire exit?" he suggested.

"I have a better idea," the lead guard said with a smirk. "I think Dr. Langford-Saxon will want to see you. She said to look for anyone suspicious and you three definitely fit the bill."

"Langford-Saxon? Don't know anyone by the name of Langford-Saxon. You, Jack?" the Gallifreyan questioned.

"Actually..." Jack started, amazement and knowledge plain in his eyes before being cut off by the Doctor.

"Langford-Saxon? Really?" the Time Lord questioned with incredulity at the name. Seeing that the guards were not amused by their words, he gestured behind him with his thumb. "Tell you what. We'll just go now. Find the fire escape ourselves." The trio found themselves immediately looking down the barrels of three guns. "Or, we can just go with the gentlemen with the guns."

Glad nodded. "I think that's a good idea."

Jack shrugged. "Okay, whatever."

The Doctor rolled his head towards him. "Don't be so cocky. Wouldn't be pleasant for you either being shot."

"True," Jack agreed before putting his hands on his head. "So... take us to your leader?"

It was Glad's turn to roll her eyes. "Can you think of a worse cliché?" she questioned, sarcasm heavy in her voice. Seeing the guards indicate all three of them should follow Jack's actions, she obeyed.

Jack grinned with mischief. "Well, I could but then these guys might actually shoot us."

"In that case... just stop talking before they do. Please," the Doctor advised as he too put his hands on his head.

With a push, the guards indicated the direction they expected the three to go which, if they had been in a fire, would have been right into the heart of it.


	11. Chapter 11

**Chapter 11**

As he left the generator room, Sam breathed a sigh of gratefulness that the Doctor gave him the go ahead to find Maggie. Putting on the cloak again, he looked around, trying to determine which way to go and decided to try the elevator since he hadn't seen any place on the generator floor that would likely hold his friend. As he got onto the elevator, another guard got on with him and entered the code to take them down several levels. He'd followed the guard off and hadn't gone far when he saw the Master, his wife, and their assistant, who was carrying a drill, coming into the corridor through a side door. As they walked down the corridor, he pushed against the wall even though he knew none of them could actually see him.

"What would he want with the Eye?" the woman questioned as they walked.

"Probably some goodie goodie reason like saving the world or such nonsense," the Gallifreyan replied to her query. "I wouldn't worry too much about his motives as much as his cleverness. I'm sure that he will find a way into the building one way or another, especially with our elusive Dr. Tyler about. You did order a thorough search of the premises."

"Of course, Harry. I instructed them to give me regular updates." Even as she spoke, the guard approached her. "Tell me you found her," she instructed.

"Nothing yet, ma'am. We've just finished sweeping the entire main building. We're starting our search of the lower levels with Sublevel H and working our way up."

"Keep me posted," she instructed with a sigh. As the guard turned to continue the search, she looked at her lover. "They'll find her."

"You had better," he growled at the guard's retreating back. He stopped walking for a moment, a frown on his face as he scanned the area.

"What's wrong?" she questioned with concern.

Sam's swallowed tightly, his heart pounding as he stood in the corridor. He wished he could just will them to move along. He figured that once they'd left, he'd go in the direction they had come from. After all, that's likely where Maggie was being held. He just hoped the Doctor was right and she was still alive. It wouldn't help, however, if the Master somehow found him despite being invisible.

"I thought..." the Master started as he scanned the area. He seemed to consider his surroundings for a long moment before shaking his head and continuing on. "It's nothing." He took a breath. "Come, my dear. Much to do. Reggie, put that drill away. I don't think we will be using it any time soon."

"Damned shame too," the woman added with obvious disappointment, leaning into the Time Lord's comforting embrace as the group continued onward and into the elevator.

Trying to regain some calm, Sam gulped in a few deep breaths before moving towards where he felt Maggie was being held. He checked each door and eventually looked down another hallway. There was a guard outside of one door about halfway down. "Great!" he exclaimed quietly to himself. "Bet she's there." He had to admit, in one way, he was happy. They wouldn't put a guard at the door if she were dead. As he moved down the hall, trying to think how he was going to get past the guard, the sound of a fire alarm went off.

"What the...?" the guard asked himself. He pulled out his radio and called the main desk. "Is this for real?"

"We're trying to verify the alarm," came the answer. "We're evacuating the upper levels just in case. Suggest you hold your position."

The guard was obviously not happy with the response. "What if it turns out to be real? I'm on a sub-floor, you know."

"Not my fault you got assigned down there, Nigel. Hold your position while we verify the alarm."

Grumbling again, the guard continued standing by the door. "They better get me out if there's a fire."

Sam watched as the guards bickered back and forth over the radio. Then, deciding that he had to act, he went down the hall a few doors and kicked at one of the portals a few times, making sure his foot was covered by the cloak.

The guard at the door shushed the person on the other end. "Hold on. I heard something."

"Yeah, a fire alarm," came the sarcastic response.

"Other than that," Nigel replied with a groan as he moved away from the door, heading towards the sound he'd heard.

Sam smiled as he noticed his ruse was working. As the guard went to investigate the sound, he went to the door and used the sonic on it, slipping inside. He found himself in a dark corridor lined with what looked like prison cells with glass and concrete walls. Going down the cell block, he saw Margaret in one of the cells, lying on a concrete slab that obviously doubled as a bunk. He looked around and saw a camera focused on the cell and figured it would be best to remain out of sight. He regarded the cell door quickly and used the sonic to unlock and open it. He hurried to her side and felt for a pulse, sighing with relief upon feeling the steady rhythm of her heartbeat. "Thank God," he exclaimed. Gently raising her head to look on her face, he attempted to wake her. "Maggie... Maggie, wake up."

It took a few more times of repeating the phrase before the Professor's eyes blinked open. "Wha... Who?" she questioned. Seeing nothing in front of her but definitely feeling someone holding her hand, she gasped, pulling her hand away from the sensation, before blinking rapidly as she realized who was there. "Oh, Sam. It's you. What happened? Where am I?"

Noting that she understood he was still wearing the cloak, he answered, "You were taken by the Master. I was afraid he'd killed you."

"Oh, gawd!" she stated, starting to hyperventilate. "Ohgawdohgawdohgawd! Get me out of here!"

"I will, Maggie. Calm down." As he spoke, the sound of the fire alarm stopped, a definite relief to his ears.

"They... oh, gawd!" she said, her voice shaking.

Sam held her. "It's going to be okay, Maggie. The Doctor is working on the biofield, although I don't know why that damned alarm went off. We need to get out of the building."

"She was going to use a belt sander on me!" she cried. "A belt sander! What kind of monster would do that to a person?" She automatically allowed Sam to help her back to her feet and out the door.

"I don't know, but she's not going to get the chance now," he replied, calmly. Internally, he was livid as well, knowing what his friend's fate would have been if the Master had had his way. "Come on, now. We did our part. Time to get the hell out of Dodge."

"Right... where's Dodge?" she quipped, wiping tears from her cheeks as she put on a mask of bravado.

"Town in Kansas, doorway to Oz," he answered with a smile,

"Darwin?" she asked, confused.

"Huh?" Sam responded, equally confused.

"Darwin, the doorway to Australia," she clarified.

"I was referring to Dorothy and Oz and..." He sighed. "Oh never mind. Come on, get under here with me," he said, wrapping the cloak around her as they headed for the door at the end of the cell block.

"Doesn't cover both of us very well, does it?" Maggie pointed out.

"No. Well enough if we stay to the shadows, though."

"I suppose," she replied, suddenly subdued as they exited the cell block. Sam ensured their escape by breaking away from the cloak to connect his foot with the guard's head, knocking him unconscious.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

No sooner than the Master, Peri, and Reggie had stepped into the elevator and had passed two levels on the way up to the CEO's office when the fire alarm sounded.

"What is it now?" the Time Lord grumbled. It seemed that the day was a magnet for unusual and highly irritating events.

"I'll check when we arrive at your office, sir, to find the source of the alarm and ascertain if it poses an actual threat to the building," Reggie assured the Gallifreyan, maintaining his usual calm demeanor. He'd learned a long time before, especially with the Master, to adapt rapidly to change.

The Master sighed, leaning against the wall of the cab. "Why today?" he questioned to no one in particular. "Is there some cosmic sign in the heaven's that says make my day one problem after another?" The elevator door opened and he pushed off of the wall, leading the others out and into the office. "While you're at it, Reginald, find out what's going on with that search for Miss Tyler. I want her found. She's already caused me enough grief for one afternoon."

Reginald, seeing that Master was ensconced in his office, checked the fire alarm system and discovered that the alarm was tripped down by the generator room. "Nothing to worry about, sir. I'll be back soon."

Sighing at the news, the Master leaned against his desk. He looked on the desk at the calendar opened to the current day. "Oh, brilliant," he grumbled. "To top it all off, the representative from Morocco is supposed to be here in four hours time to discuss connecting his country to Pi. With the kind of day we're having, I'd rather make Moroccan Chicken out of him than sit at dinner with him."

"Dear, these are all just minor inconveniences in the grand scheme of things. Don't allow it to worry you," Peri soothed.

"They're like those awful tiny bugs you have on this planet. What are they called? Gnats. They fly around you, getting in your hair and being a general nuisance." He growled at the continued drone of the fire alarm filling the room. "And shut off that bloody alarm!" He slumped into his office chair and started to drum a familiar rhythm on his desk.

"We'll let Reggie take care of it. In the meantime, would you like a backrub?"

The suggestion caused him to raise his eyebrows. "A backrub? With all that's going on?"

Peri gave him an alluring smile. "Well... there isn't much that we can do until we find a way to get through that block in Dr. Hawthorne's mind and you do seem to think better when you are relaxed. There are only two things that are stress-relievers for you... and I don't think there's anyone worthy of a good torture at the moment who is available and/or conscious." She paused. "Although if you really need that, I'm sure we could find someone."

He sighed, rolling his head on his shoulders. "I am a little stressed," he admitted. "And you do give great massages."

"Then... on the couch, mister," she said with a slight tease in her voice.

"That's Master," he corrected with a grin.

"Of course it is," she agreed, returning the smile. She had been rubbing the Master's back for a few minutes when the communications device in her pocket beeped. Taking it out, she put it to her ear. "What is it, Reggie?" she questioned. Hearing his reply, she groaned in frustration. "I don't believe this! Apparently, our mysterious Dr. Tyler is a lot cleverer than we thought. Someone's broken into Hawthorne's cell. She's missing."

A growl escaped the Master's lips. "We just put a guard on that door!"

"Nonetheless, Reggie says the guard is unconscious outside in the corridor and Dr. Hawthorne is nowhere to be seen. Apparently, Ms. Tyler is invisible if the video from the cell block is to be believed. She apparently used that little trick to successfully mount the rescue."

The Master growled angrily. "Give me that," he ordered, taking the communications device from her. Putting it to his own ear, he ordered, "Find them, Reginald, and kill them. To hell with what Hawthorne has in her head. We'll just have to find out the Doctor's plans as they unfold." Tossing the device to the side, he slumped back down on the couch. "Bloody incompetents. I'm surrounded by incompetents. I swear, Peri, you, Reggie and I are the only ones in this complex with any intelligence whatsoever."

"Thank you, dear. Now... let me get rid of those tensions." She started to knead his neck. "If I didn't know better, I'd think you had tied rope knots in there."

The only response she got from him was a low humph of a moan.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

"I shall insure there will be no further complications concerning either Dr. Hawthorne or Dr. Tyler, sir," Reggie assured over the comm before disconnecting the link and putting the device back in his pocket. Pulling a gun from a holster hidden under his jacket, he loaded a clip into the weapon as he exited the cell block, prepared to do anything necessary to stop the rampant ineptitude of Lothos' people.

First and foremost, he needed to track dow/n his prey, who he knew had to still be in the facility. The only question was where... which could be difficult to determine based on the fact that the video showed them to be bloody invisible. Well, mostly anyway. Apparently whatever they were using didn't cover them completely. Checking the timecode on the door to determine when it was last opened, he discovered that it hadn't been long. He'd only taken the time to review the video when he'd arrived. He frowned realizing that he must have passed the invisible women in the hallway. Well, he knew what to look for now.

Understanding that they'd immediately leave this floor, he started towards the elevator once again. He would lock the elevator down and lock the doors from the lower levels to the exit, making it impossible for them to leave, and then... the real hunt would begin.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

Sam had started down the corridor towards the elevators with Margaret under the cloak. They'd moved hardly a few feet when he heard something and gestured to Maggie to stop moving and not to make a sound. He was somewhat shocked to see the man that had been with the Master walking from the elevator they were approaching. He waited until the man passed before continuing their move quietly toward the elevator. His plan was to push a button for the lift to arrive and then get away. They were moving slowly to try to keep the cloak cover over both of them. Unfortunately, the elevator return was taking a long time, probably due to the damned fire alarm. By the time the elevator arrived, the man returned, pressed the button again - not having noticed that the button had already been pressed - and impatiently awaited the elevator himself. The minute that the doors opened, Sam and Maggie slipped into the cab ahead of the man, Sam determined not to let him get in with them.

Reggie felt a slight shift in the air right before he entered the elevator. He found that there seemed to be an odd shimmer as if a silvery cloud was hovering to the side of the cab close to the floor buttons. He grinned triumphantly, realizing that he'd found his quarry. "Dr. Tyler and Dr. Hawthorne, I presume," he said with confidence as he drew his gun and started into the elevator.

Sam pressed the button to go to the lobby and then immediately kicked the man in the stomach, sending him stumbling backwards out of the elevator. "Not Dr. Tyler. The name's Beckett. Sam Beckett." With that, the doors began to close.

Reggie jumped to his feet after the unexpected assault and rushed to the elevator doors, unable to do anything but watch them close. Pounding them in frustration from losing his quarry, he growled and ran towards the stairwell, determined to get up to the ground floor as quickly as possible.

Sam looked over at the other occupant in the elevator no longer covered with the cloak due to his kickboxing move. "As soon as the elevator opens, we've got to get out of here."

Maggie looked more than a little frazzled by their escape from the assistant's hands. "He brought her a drill to use on me," she whispered, breathing heavily. Turning to look into Sam's eyes, her face dropped further. "You think he's following us up, don't you."

Sam nodded. "I think we're going to have to make a break for it. As soon as the doors open, head straight for the front door. Don't stop, no matter what. You're going to get out of here, Margaret Hawthorne." He started to take off the cloak to give it to the woman.

"I think I prefer being called Maggie," she answered back, a small grin playing on her face. "Much more adventurous a name. And you keep the cloak. With my luck I'll probably just trip."

Sam considered arguing with her but instead left the clasp alone. As the doors opened, both of them sprinted toward the entrance to the building. Just as they reached the door, they heard a man's voice calling behind them. "Stop her! Don't let her get away!" A moment later, several bullets zoomed around them, one slicing through Sam's left shoulder.

The leaper fell forward by the momentum of the projectile. Sam caught himself before falling entirely to the floor but he was moving slower, invisible to the shooters due to the cloak. It was just his luck they were such bad aims. "Go on, Maggie. Get to safety."

"Not without you!" she replied vehemently. Seeing the blood that had seeped through the cloak, making it visible in his shoulder area, she hurriedly ran to him. "Besides, with that look on his face, he seems pretty determined to kill us and the Doctor would kill me if anything happened to you and thus his girlfriend."

Another shot barely past him and he removed the cloak. "Safer without it," he explained as he got up to move.

"Yes, but who knows if we'll need it again," Maggie responded, grabbing the cloak and running after him. They burst through the door a moment later and moved towards the crowd of people waiting to get back into the building after the fire alarm, all of them standing in the safe zone several feet from the property's border.

Turning to look back, Maggie immediately noticed Reggie hurrying out of the building, following them with his pistol raised. The sound of another gunshot filled the air, causing several of the crowd to scream in fright as they watched the well-suited assistant hurrying after the two. One member of the crowd fell dead from a wild shot, causing Reggie to growl in frustration and speed up his pace. "Really need to get the sights adjusted on this thing!"

Maggie and Sam, now free from the grounds of the Prometheus Institute, turned again to see where Reggie was. As they did so, a terrifying sight met their eyes. A look of shock appeared on the man's face as he was instantly frozen in mid-stride for a second before shaking violently. A primeval strangled cry escaped from his lips and then was cut abruptly off as his body was instantly turned into the color and texture of a charred tree branch. A moment later, he collapsed to the ground, still smoldering, barely recognizable as once being a man.

The crowd around them instantly reacted, some screaming at the sight. One man in the crowd pointed to Sam and Maggie. "He was after them."

Seeing that this could become ugly very quickly, Sam pointed to an alleyway. "Maggie. There. Now!" The two rushed in that direction and, once there, Sam pulled her down beside a trash bin and covered them with the cloak. A group had followed and looked around trying to find their prey. After a few minutes, they were left alone.

While they waited for the group to stop their search, Maggie pulled Sam gently into her arms after he stifled a groan of pain. Keeping him silent throughout the ordeal, she finally looked at her friend to see that he had fallen unconscious. "Sam," she entreated. "Wake up." She slapped his face a couple of times. "Wake up, you bloody git!"

His eyes opened at the entreaty, albeit slightly unfocused. "Cold," he said simply, hoping she knew what shock was. His medical mind had diagnosed his entry into the condition during the search of the alleyway by the crowd. Now he was fully in it and wasn't sure what he could do about it.

"Ah, bloody hell," she murmured to herself, her concern growing exponentially with his single word. She knew something of basic medicine but not enough to handle someone going into shock. "I'm a geologist, not a medical doctor. You got to tell me what to do while I call for an ambulance."

His teeth clenched, as he tried to think through things logically. "Stop bleeding," he answered. "Warm. Ambulance."

"I've got to lay you down to do the first two," she told him bluntly, hoping to get some insight from him. Seeing that he wasn't quite lucid enough to reply, she mentally crossed her fingers and laid him flat on the garbage covered concrete. "Right... stop the bleeding." Quickly searching herself and finding nothing to use as a bandage, she pulled off her dress jacket and then her cotton blouse and applying the shirt firmly against his shoulder. "And I really liked this blouse," she half-complained. "Good thing Harkness isn't around to comment. Can you hold that there while I cover you?" Not waiting for a reply, she raised his right hand and placed it on the makeshift top bandage, hoping that he would be able to apply enough pressure on the wound while, at the same time, knowing that his own body weight would help stymie the flow of blood from the entry point. Quickly grabbing the cloak, she covered his torso. Then searching herself with her free hand, she located her cell phone and dialed Triple Zero. As the operator answered on the other end of the line, she instructed that she needed an ambulance and gave her location before waiting to be connected to emergency medical services for assistance.

 _Damned hollow point bullet_ , she thought angrily. While she didn't know medicine like the man she was tending, she knew weapons well enough to know that was the cause of the severe damage to Sam's shoulder. Now it was just a waiting game to see if the ambulance would arrive quickly enough to save the physicist's life.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

The Master practically purred under Peri's firm but relaxing touch as she worked on the tense muscles in his back. He could just imagine what Lothos would be saying to his taking in a backrub when there were two people running around the complex. But what was he supposed to do? Run around like Earth poultry missing its rostral anatomical part? He wasn't an ape and the security system would inform them of any unauthorized exits or entries.

As if in response to his thoughts, a chime came from his desk, telling both he and Peri that someone had breached the security laser on the ground floor.

"What was that?" he questioned, quickly getting up from the couch on which he had been lying. Moving to his desk, he brought up the security cameras for that area, seeing Reggie going through the front doors, his weapon drawn. He smiled with admiration of the tenacious man, hurrying to the window to get a bird's eye view of the situation. Peri joined him with obvious curiosity, her husband automatically putting his arm around her waist.

From their fifth floor window, they watched as two women ran towards a crowd of people - all Prometheus Institute employees from what the Master could tell. One of the women, who the Time Lord supposed was the illusive Dr. Tyler, was blatantly injured, her left shoulder bleeding profusely. Reggie was only a few feet behind them and fired a round towards them, a shot which missed them and hit one of the employees waiting off of P.I. property.

"Terrible shot, Reginald," the Master commented as if he were watching a football match. "You can do better than that!"

A moment later, the world was turned on its head as a lightshow of orange and blue filled the air in front of them. But neither the Master nor Peri cared for the show; it was what caused it that held their attention. Below them, they watched in shocked silence as Reginald Torkinson hit a wall of energy and quickly turned a putrid shade of grey and black, his skin cracking. His brief horrified cry of agony seeped through the window panes, showing just how loud the last sound he had ever made was as the unrecognizable mass fell to the ground.

The Master's arm dropped from his wife's waist, disbelief plain on his features. "He's... gone. Reggie's... dead."

Peri just stood in shock, blinking at the reality. Seeing his beloved's lack of physical reaction other than staring, the Gallifreyan swallowed to regain control of himself before gently pulling her away from the window. He didn't know why his most trusted assistant and the closest thing he had to a friend had died but he knew he was going to find out and make the person responsible pay in ways they didn't think were physically possible. But first, he had to tend to the woman who owned his hearts. "Reggie's dead, Peri. Come sit down before you collapse," he ordered. Anger was in his voice but none of it was directed at the traumatized woman.

"Reggie, Harry. Reggie was our greatest ally. What are we going to do?" she finally said. Tears had started to form and were threatening to drop in a flood.

He sat her down on the couch, kneeling in front of her and taking her hands. "We're going to find who did this and make him suffer, preferably in the most painful ways possible. I need you to be strong, my queen. No tears." To emphasize his words, he wiped away a stray tear that had managed to wheedle its way from her eye. "Reginald was always strong for us. We need to do the same for him."

"You're right, of course," she agreed, trying to pull her emotions in. "It's just... he was... the closest to family that we've had. Reggie was someone you could always count on."

"Yes... he was," the Gallifreyan agreed. He abruptly stood and started pacing. "I didn't design the field to do that. Any human should be able to walk through unharmed, proof being that the whole bloody building evacuated without incident. Therefore, the field must have been altered. But I deadlocked it! No one could have shut it off and the only way anyone could have altered its programming is if they could read Old High Gallifreyan." His eyelids dropped at the only logical conclusion. "Now he has gone too far. He's in the building and he's murdered Reggie! Even for him, that's low!"

Peri looked confused but almost simultaneously realized what he'd said. "The Doctor? Here? How? Your biofield should have prevented that."

"How else do you think he got in here? Hawthorne and Tyler. They were the ones that shut down the field the first time, giving him time to get on the grounds before I brought it back up. Shutting down the field wouldn't have required much, just basic human cleverness. That certainly explains the odd feeling I had in the generator room. Tyler had to have been in there somehow." He paused, thinking. "Wait... I missed something. When they were fleeing from Reggie, Dr. Hawthorne was carrying something odd. Sort of shimmery. Like... like in that silly film you dragged me to."

"I don't drag you to silly films. I ask you to join me in watching entertainment I enjoy." She paused. "Which particular film are you talking about?"

He waved his hand slightly. "That one with all the sorcery and the teenagers." His eyes widened slightly. "Invisibility cloak! Tyler had an invisibility cloak. That's why HAL shot the mouse. She was in the room at the same time as me and I couldn't even see her! Where did she find such a thing? The Doctor's never used an invisibility cloak before. Where do you get an invisibility cloak anyway? How would you see it if it's invisible?"

"They actually exist?" Peri asked. "I thought that was just fantasy." As she asked the question, she suddenly realized how unfair she'd been to her husband. "Oh, Harry. We should have listened. You were right all along."

He glared at her, reminded of how she downplayed his intuitions when they were in the generator room. "Damn right, you should have listened. Have I ever been wrong about anything?"

Peri was lost how to answer that without causing a thermonuclear meltdown. While it seldom happened, there were a few times he had, in fact, been wrong. Her intuition told her this wasn't a time to bring those situations up. "I have never doubted your intentions and I should have been more receptive," she told him, deciding that statement had truth in it which her husband would be able to read in her voice.

The Master gave a slight shrug, the closest he ever came to accepting apologies when in a foul mood. "As for rewriting the base code... only a Time Lord could do that. Oh, and you, my dear, because you are smarter than the average ape... most of the time."

Again, warning bells went off in her head and she didn't rise to that bait. "So he's here. Then... why haven't you felt him?

He turned to her, giving her a look that told her he was slightly disappointed with her question. "Did you forget the telepathic dampening field? I couldn't feel his presence any more than he could feel mine even if he was hiding in the closet." He took a slow breath. "Only one way to stop him now. I'll have to shut off the field."

This time, she felt she had to answer. "I know about the telepathic field. I just thought that with him being here... that it might be different. You know… proximity?"

"Would you be able to see with a blindfold on? Because that's basically what that field does to my ability to sense other Time Lords. You can imagine how frustrating it's been since I was pulled out to have that particular ability closed off to me. Maddening even." He found himself tapping against his leg as he thought about it. "You have always been the only thing keeping me sane." He sighed almost nostalgically. "It would be good to feel their presence again."

"I'm sorry, dear. Sometimes it's hard for me to fully understand what you're going through."

He gave her a gentle smile. "I know. It's the disadvantage of an advanced life form being stuck in a human body. Believe me, I know exactly how that feels." Without a word otherwise, he abruptly went to his desk and brought up the Pi Network interface. "Here we go... telepathic dampening field off." He gave a broad grin. "We'll be able to find the Doctor quite easily now." Even as he spoke, the joy that had been on his face slowly dropped into one of trepidation. "Something's wrong." He appeared to be concentrating for a long moment before his eyes widened. "That's... that's impossible!"

Peri saw the look on her husband's face: a mixture of disbelief, shock, sadness, and fear. "What is it, Harry?" she asked, her face showing her concern as she went to his side to try to comfort him.

He didn't respond for a long moment. "They're gone. I can only feel _him_. The rest... Peri, where are the rest? Where are my people?!"

"I don't understand," she responded. "When you explained the dampening field, you said you wouldn't feel them throughout time and space... that the connection was through all dimensions. How could they be gone?"

"How the hell should I know?! They have to be there but I can't feel them and that's impossible! Unless... am I damaged? Is something wrong with me physically? Can't be." He shook his head. "He did something. To the biofield or to me personally... to the air filtration system... I don't know. But he did something." Growling in fury, he marched for the door, determined to hunt down and find his nemesis and make him answer for Reggie, for the loss of the Time Lords in his mind, and for interfering with matters which were none of his business.

Even as he started for the door, Peri's communications device beeped, causing her to sigh. After all that had happened in the last several minutes, she really didn't want to have to deal with one of Lothos' people telling her that there were still no results. As such, she was surprised by what she did hear. "The main lab," she shouted towards the Master. "They found him and took him to the main lab." She hurried to catch up with him.

"Good. What better place to hold my next lab rat," the Gallifreyan commented vehemently as he stepped into the elevator, Peri barely getting into the cab in time before it started its descent.


	12. Chapter 12

**Chapter 12**

With their hands on their heads, the Doctor, Jack, and Glad were escorted through the corridors to the elevator. They went down two levels and emerged on Sublevel F before being further led to a large laboratory.

The Doctor whistled with appreciation of the sight before them. "Now, this is a lab! Blimey! You've got every kind of research equipment in here! Wonder how you could afford all this. But then again, I suppose convincing people that you are just a simple charitable think tank will help a lot to get donations. Though, I don't think that your contributors would appreciate how you are using their funds."

One of the guards hit him. "Quiet. Dr. Langford-Saxon has been called. She'll be here any minute." Even as he spoke, the door opened, admitting a man and a woman, both well dressed.

The man rushed towards the Doctor, grabbing his lapels and forcing him against the nearest wall, fury clear on his face. "What did you do to me?!" the Master shouted at him.

The Doctor, while startled by his former friend's actions, remained calm in the face of such anger. "Nothing. I didn't do anything to you."

"Then why can't I feel them?" came the enraged response.

Realization came to the Doctor's face instantly. "The telepathic dampening field you had up to prevent me from sensing you. You dropped it. And you don't know about the war."

"War? What war?" the Master pressed.

"The Last Time War. A war with the Daleks. The Time Lords are dead, Master. Gallifrey burned. We're the only ones left."

"We're..." The rival Time Lord took the words in, allowing the ramifications of them to seep slowing into his mind as he finally released the Doctor's lapels. "Why? We've been at war with the Daleks off and on for millennia. What changed?"

There was a pause and a breath before the answer came. "It was a full out war. We were losing. The Council decided to enact a radical solution that would have destroyed all of creation, believing that they would ascend into beings of pure energy. I had to stop them."

The other Gallifreyan was about to confront him about this revelation when he realized destruction of creation would have meant the loss of his Peri. "But did you have to be so final?"

"Have you ever known me to take drastic actions if they weren't called for?" the Doctor responded with his own question.

"Quite a few times, yes."

"In your opinion," came the counterpoint. "As I recall, you were on the other end of most of those times for those actions."

"Ergo, they weren't called for."

"And the radio telescope was? Ever since then, I've had this thing about radio telescopes."

"Of course, it was. I wouldn't have done it if it wasn't."

Peri looked over to her husband. "Reggie," she said simply and with some heat in her voice.

Instantly, the Master's expression turned dark. "Reggie," he repeated to the Doctor.

The other Gallifreyan frowned. "Sorry?"

"Not good enough," Peri stated vehemently.

"What's not good enough?" the Doctor questioned, his eyes going from the Master to the woman who seemed infuriated with him.

"Your apology. Not accepted. You fried poor Reggie with whatever you did. What gives you the right?" she hissed.

"I have no idea what you are talking about." He looked to the Master with a frown. "What is she talking about?"

"You killed my best friend with whatever you did to the biofield," the Master stated, hatred in his eyes. "His name was Reginald Anthony Torkinson."

Jack spoke up. "Fits."

"What?" the Master asked looking away from the Doctor and towards this other person.

"His initials. R. A. T. And, from what the Doctor tells me, only a _rat_ would work for you."

"Jack..." the Doctor warned, obviously too late.

The Master glared at the immortal man, clearly not amused by the response. "And I suppose such a response is fitting coming from something like you. I don't know what you are, but you're wrong."

Jack gave him a sly grin. "If you're saying I'm a bad boy, you have no idea."

"Jack..." the Doctor growled slightly. "Now is not the time, especially not with him and under these circumstances. A man died, in case you missed it, although I'm still confused as to how it is supposedly my fault."

"You changed the biofield, didn't you? Made it so no one can leave, I assume. When you started it, Reggie was inside the operational perimeter."

The Doctor took a slow breath as he mentally played the scenario in his head and came to its logical conclusion. "I'm sorry. I'm so sorry," he told his former friend wholeheartedly. "I did change the biofield. No one was to have been hurt."

"Tell Reggie that," Peri said with venom in her voice. "His scream could be heard five floors up through tempered glass!"

The Gallifreyan didn't respond to her angry reply, the knowledge that he had been the cause of someone's death weighing on his hearts.

"Hey, leave him alone," Glad told the angry woman. She went over to the Doctor, touching his arm. "It's not your fault, Doctor. You couldn't have known."

"And as usual, the Doctor's companion has to come to his rescue," the Master commented with a roll of his eyes. "Of course, nothing is ever his fault..." He couldn't help but continue to glance towards Jack, the uneasy feeling he felt with him around growing more familiar by the minute. Suddenly, his eyes widened with realization, an expression that quickly turned into anger. "You were the one that interrupted me in Cardiff! I felt you coming." He pointed at Jack with disgust. "I didn't get to finish part of my gift because of you!"

Remembering what he'd found throughout Cardiff that he now knew had been caused by the Master, Jack responded with equal disgust. "You butchered them. I understand revenge and I understand defending a woman's honor... but leaving them butchered was psychotically depraved."

"They tarnished what is mine," the Master answered darkly. Immediately, his expression turned into a loving smile as he looked on the woman near him. "Anything for my beautiful queen."

Glad looked confused. "She doesn't look anything like a queen. Guinevere... now she was a queen. Elegant, beautiful, wise, kind..."

"Your queen looks more like a tart to me," Jack stated, hoping to pull the Master's anger away from Glad to towards him. "Especially with that scar and red eye. I heard of deviled eggs but never of deviled eyes."

Enraged by the impossible man's words, the Master cried out in fury, grabbing a pistol from one of the guards and aiming it at Jack.

"No!" the Doctor cried out, grabbing Glad to try to pull her away from harm, knowing that even his alien reflexes wouldn't be quick enough to stop the Master from killing his friend. At the very least, he could protect Glad if the Master decided to turn the gun immediately onto the girl. His eyes widened in shock as Jack fell to the floor even as the Gallifreyan quickly cradled Glad's head against his chest to prevent her from seeing any further trauma. He couldn't help but think about what had caused the incident, namely the Master's reaction to a relatively mild insult to a member of a lesser species. He blinked, suddenly realizing the answer to the dilemma. "You really love her!" he exclaimed, his tone showing his surprise. "You absolutely love... a human!" There was a moment of pause as he let the thought sink in. "A human wife, a human best friend..." he commented, looking on the Master with wonder. "Have you actually grown attached to the human race?"

"Don't call her human!" the Master shouted at him. "She's far superior to any ape on this stink-hole of a planet."

"Right..." the other Time Lord drawled slowly. "So, she isn't human even though she has all the biological indicators of being one. Still doesn't explain poor Reginald, which I really regret."

"Periwinkle is so much more than a human and I will assure she reaches her full potential. Reggie was the only human that I knew I could trust implicitly. You will not speak of either of them like they were... the apes you choose to associate yourself with... like that girl you're holding."

The Doctor nodded slightly. "Periwinkle..." he murmured. "Wondered about that. Thought it might have been short for Perpugilliam. Or just not short for anything at all."

The Master's focus changed, ignoring the Doctor's muse about his wife's name. "So... what is that... thing?" He nodded to the dead man on the floor.

Glad looked up. "You're one to talk about how hurt you are with losing your friend. You killed Jack!"

The Master rolled his eyes. "He'll be back. He's an impossibility." He paused, considering his words. "You know... having someone who can't die around..." He gave Peri a wicked smile. "You might be able to try out that belt sander after all, love. Several times, in fact. And any other toys you want. He could be your personal guinea pig!"

"Stay away from him, Master!" the Doctor warned with a dangerous growl.

"You haven't answered my question. What is it?"

" _He_ is Captain Jack Harkness," the other Time Lord responded.

"That's not what I mean and you know it." He wrinkled his nose. "And you appear to... like it. Has it been a companion? How could you stand to be around it? I would have left it without transport on the first uninhabited world I could find."

The Doctor tucked his head at the Master's words, refusing to meet the latter's eyes. Having his own actions thrown back at him verbally, though the Master wasn't aware of it, wasn't the easiest thing to hear even if the issue had already been resolved between him and Jack.

With eyes widened, the Master responded to the other Time Lord's body language. "You did! You left him to rot somewhere! Good boy!" Frowning, he questioned, "Then how is he here?" He answered his own question. "You went back for him, didn't you? Couldn't do what any sane person would do. No, instead you bought into that compassion you're always on about. I'm right, aren't I?"

"Not exactly," the Doctor admitted. "I didn't leave him to rot, as you put it. I left him in a position where he could do some good. He just happened to find me later."

"Oh, Thete. You're too noble for your own good. When are you ever going to learn?" came the sighed response. "Just what are you doing here?" the Master questioned.

"Thete? That's a bit... old fashioned for you, isn't it... Chi?"

"Key?" Glad questioned with a frown. "Key to what?"

The Master rolled his eyes. "Oh, you chose a gem as a companion this time, didn't you?" he questioned sarcastically. He gave the girl a glare. "Not key. Chi. As in the Greek letter."

"His nickname in the Academy," the Doctor clarified. "I was called Theta Sigma, the Master was called Gamma Chi. Just Chi for short."

"Chi... I like that, dear," Peri stated. "Why did you never tell me?"

"It wasn't important," the Master told her bluntly. "What is important is that _Thete_ hasn't answered my question! What are you doing here?"

"Nothing," the Doctor responded. "Just... doing the tourist thing. Never been to Australia before. Picking up a bunch of interesting tidbits. You know... visiting Aborigines and marsupials in the Outback, finding odd craters in the middle of nowhere..."

The Master nodded. "The crater. I thought so. You're so predictable."

"Well... you see one crater, you've seen them all. Except this crater had something in the center of it. Fragments of a meteorite that was found by a Dr. Margaret Hawthorne. She told me you took it from her."

"So that's your connection with her." The Master smiled. "I was wondering about that."

"I'm sure you would have figured it out eventually. Now that you know, mind letting her go?" the Doctor asked. "I know you have her and I'd be so very grateful if you did." Seeing the odd look in the Master's eyes, he frowned. "Am I missing something?"

"No. We have plans for Dr. Hawthorne. Dr. Tyler as well," Peri replied, realizing that the Doctor did not know both Hawthorne and Tyler had escaped.

"You have her too?" came the concerned question. "Where are they? I want to see them."

"They're safe as long as you cooperate with us. Now, what are you really doing here?"

At that moment, Jack gasped as he came back from the dead. Looking up, he grinned, albeit with a slight grimace as well, at the sight of Glad coming to his side and taking hold his hand.

"That has got to hurt a lot," she commented, returning the grin, hers tinted with relief.

"Yeah, but if it keeps you two safe, it's worth going through," he replied before allowing her to help him to his feet. "So, what did I miss?" he questioned the Doctor.

"Oh, we were just talking about craters, Aborigines, marsupials, Vegemite..."

Glad grimaced at the word. "I hate that stuff."

"...and the fact that the Master refuses to release Margaret and Rose," the Doctor finished.

"Vegemite?" Jack asked. "Never saw that coming." Turning his attention towards the Master, he raised his head authoritatively. "Both women's release is non-negotiable. Release them or accept the consequences."

"Oh, I'm so scared!" the Master replied heavily with sarcasm, gaining a laugh from his bride. "You are five floors below ground level in a complex covered with guards and we have you trapped in this room. What are you going to do, freak?"

"Wouldn't you like to know? I might be a freak to you but I'm not stupid. Never give your strategic advantages away to the enemy. That's military science 101."

The Master raised an eyebrow, looking towards the Doctor again. "Still hanging out with military types, I see. First UNIT, now a freaky American with an attitude. What's next? The Salvation Army?"

"My choice of companions is based on more than their choice of career."

"So you have indicated in the past. But a freaky American..." He glanced at Jack's wrist, noticing the item wrapped around it. "And apparently a Time Agent at that, based on that vortex manipulator it's sporting. Huh." He shrugged his shoulders slightly. "Doesn't matter, I suppose. What does matter is... I would like to know how your Dr. Tyler managed to break the lock on the computer. It would take a sonic screwdriver to break that lock. Did you perhaps lend yours to her?"

"Nope. Still have mine," the latter replied.

"Not if there was another you around here. But then again, I'm only feeling your presence. Only one you, I mean."

"There's only one me," the Doctor stated with pride. "Quite a mystery there, I'd say."

"I've been around five of you at the same time, Doctor," the Master pointed out. "At that time it was a bit much but, with you and I being the only ones left, I think I'd rather prefer it this time."

"You never were very fond of the Time Lords," came the response, the Doctor's tone indicating that he was stating an obvious fact between them.

"And again, you are being evasive. How did Dr. Tyler break the lock on the computer, since you insist that you have your sonic screwdriver?"

"You know, with how you've been occupying this building for so long, I would think that the answer to that question would be rather obvious, wouldn't you?"

Peri growled in frustration. "He's doing it again! Why are you here?" she demanded.

"That depends on what the Master has to tell me about the meteor he stole from Dr. Hawthorne."

"I didn't steal it," the Master countered. "It hit ground on Prometheus Institute property. We actually have legal possession... and Dr. Hawthorne was trespassing."

The Doctor nodded slightly at his words. "Right. Legal possession. And what would you want from a piece of space rock?"

"You know full well it isn't just an ordinary piece of space rock," the other Gallifreyan countered. His lips curled up as he thought of how the Black Eye would give him his greatest wish: Peri as his equal. "Have you ever been in love?"

The Doctor blinked at his words, regarding him with interest. "I never thought I'd ever hear that question coming from you. Didn't think you had time for such a base emotion."

The Master looked at his nemesis. "It is not base. She completes me. She is everything I've ever wanted in a woman. And I will make her a goddess."

His eyebrows furrowed further, the Doctor walked up to the Master. "Are you sure you're all right? You really aren't acting yourself, Chi. Mind you, I think it's brilliant. Hope it made you a better person." He glanced back towards Jack and Glad, remembering the nightmare yet again. "However, knowing you as I do, I seriously doubt it. Especially this talk of making her a goddess. What exactly do you mean by that?"

"Well, I suppose I should give credit where it's due. Peri is my beloved and will be my partner throughout time because of what you did."

"What I did? What did I do, exactly?"

"You made me fall into the Eye of Harmony. Oh, I hated you for that for the sheer pain of it. But in the end, when Peri pulled me out, it restored me from that human form back to my destiny, to my first incarnation as a Time Lord. The Black Eye will do that for her."

"You made yourself fall into the Eye of Harmony, Master. I offered my hand to save you. You refused to take it," the Doctor corrected him quickly. "By all the Laws of Time, falling into the Eye of Harmony should have killed you."

"It did, in a sense. But it was a rebirth as well. The Eye was more than a power source and now I have its twin."

The Doctor thought for a long moment, tucking his hands into his pockets. "You're referring to the meteorite, I take it. And you obviously plan on using it to turn Mrs. Master into a Time Lord."

The Master smiled broadly. "That's why I liked you, Thete. You were one of the few that could get to the heart of the matter without a great deal of posturing. I hated that. All the posturing."

"Liked?" the Doctor questioned. "Well... that's a new word to describe our relationship. I don't consider the fact that you were directly responsible for one of my regenerations as proof of your liking me. Quite the opposite, I would say. I don't think you and I have had a friendly relationship since the Academy."

The Master paused. "Yes. The Academy. That was another time and place." He gave a hint of a smile. "Yet another thing to thank you for, Thete. While I may not have like the Time Lords and, while I still disagree with your absolute methods of ridding the universe of them, it does open up a whole new purpose for me." He spread his arms wide, as if asking for tribute from all in the room. "I will create a New Gallifrey, a new Time Lord race. And they will be better than before and I will be their Emperor with Peri as my Empress!"

"Oh, Harry!" Peri practically squealed with excitement. She hurried to him and wrapped her arms around him tightly. "It'll be glorious!"

"I can't let you do that," came the forceful reply from the Doctor.

"And how are you going to stop me?" the Master asked incredulously. He started detailing his assets. "I've got the Eye... the resources... I will soon have humanity as my work force... and now I have you. I can do anything!"

"Really? And how will you achieve this grand plan of yours? Force people into whatever contraption you can create? It's one thing to get a volunteer, which I have no doubt your wife will be the first one. But volunteerism isn't in your plan, is it?" He scratched his head as if confused. "Where is this Black Eye anyway? How can you be sure that it will actually do as you think it will?"

The Master walked over to a locked cabinet and used his sonic screwdriver to open it. Inside was the meteorite that Margaret had wanted to examine. The Master took it in his hands and pulled it out, placing it on the table. "I've studied this from every possible angle. Although it is smaller, the properties of this Eye are identical to the Eye of Harmony except they are polar opposites."

"Thus it being a Black Eye, eh?" The Doctor grimaced slightly at his own words. "Bit of a rubbish nomenclature." He pulled out his glasses and perched them on his nose, bending over to take a better look at the object. "If it is a polar opposite of the Eye of Harmony, that would mean it comes from a negatively charged universe. Of course, it being stabilized would explain why it still exists in this universe." He turned to the Master with a smile. "I have already done my own studies on the fragments you missed from the crater in the Outback. So I already know exactly how dangerous this is."

Peri looked to the Doctor. "Harry knows how to handle this meteorite, even if you don't."

"Harry, is it?" the Doctor questioned his fellow Time Lord. "Blimey, you've taken on a human name too and your wife calls you by it. If that isn't going native... And it isn't a matter of the ability to handle the Eye, as you put it, Mrs. Master, but rather whether or not it is a wise thing to do."

She glared at him with irritation. "My name is Dr. Langford-Saxon."

"It's not going native to indulge one's wife by following her customs," the other Gallifreyan stated, obviously stung by his former friend's words. "It doesn't mean that I'm not fully Time Lord, Doctor. I am the Master and she is my Queen."

"So is that the name she will be adopting when you make her a Time Lord? The Queen?"

"She hasn't chosen a fully appropriate name as of yet."

"I vote for the Hag," Jack commented, gaining a stifled giggle from Glad. A moment later, the irascible immortal once again fell dead from a bullet to his head.

"You really should counsel him on inappropriate remarks, Doctor," the Master stated as he replaced his gun in his jacket pocket.

"Yeah... never could keep him from speaking his mind," the other Gallifreyan replied, a sad look on his face as he regarded his friend.

"There was something else... not just the mysterious sonic. Where did you find that cape?"

"What cape?"

"That invisibility cape. Here, let me show you." He turned to Peri. "Bring up the video," he ordered, as he gestured for the Doctor to follow.

As Peri walked over to the computer station to access the security camera feed, the lights in the room flickered slightly. The Doctor couldn't help but notice the Master give an exasperated huff a moment later, causing the former to knit his eyebrows slightly with interest. However, questions were set aside as the human female brought up a digitized record that showed a thin man pausing as if having heard something.

"It's a bit further in, about three minutes," Peri commented. She looked at the screen with remorse in her eyes. "Poor Reggie," she murmured. Raising her hand, she was about to put the feed into fast-forward mode when the Master's hand stopped her.

On the screen, Reggie pulled out his pistol as he faced into the elevator cab. _"Dr. Tyler and Dr. Hawthorne, I presume."_

The air in front of him shimmered slightly and a glimpse of two women peeking out of apparent nothingness caught the camera lens.

 _"Um... No. Not Dr. Tyler. The name's Beckett. Sam Beckett."_ The shimmering figure kicked Reggie out of the elevator just as the doors began to close.

Reggie rushed the elevator doors which closed completely. Pounding them in frustration, he ran off screen, obviously heading for the stairwell.

Peri blinked. "Sam Beckett. That woman claimed to be... Is it possible? Has Sam Beckett leapt into the life of Dr. Sarah Tyler?"

Lothos, who had come in with the flickering lights announcing his arrival, had quietly come into the room, observing the Master as he talked with the other Time Lord and his associates. Hearing this piece of news, he suddenly injected himself into the conversation. "Sam Beckett? Sam Beckett was here and he was allowed to get away?" His voice was livid with anger.

"Well, if your guards were more competent, then perhaps he wouldn't have!" the Master shouted at the ceiling not realizing that in his anger he let the other Time Lord know that Sam and Maggie were safe. Keeping his head turned toward the ceiling, he continued berating the non-corporeal being. "If you'd been watching just maybe you'd have your precious Dr. Beckett."

Glad grinned broadly at the news that Maggie and Sam had escaped, watching the interaction between the Master and the unseen voice. The Doctor, seeing that the Master's attention had been drawn away, took the opportunity. Slipping away from the Master's side, he moved to where the Black Eye rested and then, leaning forward, he made as if he were examining the Black Eye, picked it up casually and tucked it into his jacket pocket. He then walked around the lab table so that he was standing beside his companions again.

"My guards are not the issue here, Master," Lothos said with sarcasm. "Oh, and really, do you have to kill all your captives when you feel insulted? Get a thicker skin." Lothos had come in just before Jack had been killed the second time and didn't know the man would be coming back to life within a few more minutes.

"He deserved it! Didn't do any permanent damage." Jack gasped as he returned. "See? He's a freak!"

"A freak? That's amazing! What a trick. I could use a leaper like that!"

"Not interested," Jack rasped, crawling back onto his feet. "Went there, rode the ride, bought the t-shirt." He moved over to the Doctor. "I always miss the good stuff, don't I?" he whispered to him.

"Yup," the Doctor responded. "Such as Sam and Maggie got out of the building safely." Seeing the Master's gathering anger, he revised, "Well, maybe not all the good stuff."

The Master took a slow breath, showing his impatience as he continued his conversation with Lothos. "You want Harkness as a leaper? You can't even handle your own guards much less that... _thing_. I ordered your guards to search this building from top to bottom. What do I get? _Failure!_ It was only _my_ assistant's brilliance and attention to detail that someone even attempted to prevent their escape. Even if it meant his life."

The lights flickered in curiosity. "What? Reginald's dead? How?"

"As if you care, HAL," the Master growled. He pointed to the Doctor. "If you must know, he killed him. Reggie was in pursuit of Beckett and Hawthorne when he hit the altered biofield. If you hadn't run off to Rassilon knows where, you'd already know all this and perhaps have been able to stop it."

"Oh... now it's my fault. Typical, Master, typical. You're the one who said that this could never happen."

The Master glared again at the ceiling. "I've just about had enough of your attitude, HAL. I've told you, nothing has changed. We didn't know that the Doctor and Beckett were together. This puts capturing him on immediate status... once I get the biofield reprogrammed to allow us access to the outside world."

The ceiling lights flicked as if in anger. "And I've had it with the '2001' shit! My name is not HAL. I am Lothos. I have provided you with everything... _everything_... you've requested so that you could show me the great things you can do. You may think you're brilliant... but you're an incompetent blow hard with delusions of grandeur... _Harry_."

The Doctor, seeing that the guards who were supposed to be keeping an eye on them were more interested in the argument taking place between the Master and the disembodied voice of Sam's nemesis - not that he could blame them as it was great entertainment - leaned towards Glad. "Come on," he whispered. Taking her hand, he gestured for Jack to follow as he slowly backed away towards the door. Jack followed the Doctor's lead, moving quietly but quickly to the single exit of the room.

"You wouldn't have half of what you have today if I hadn't developed it for you and the name is Master."

"I called you Master because I thought you could deliver on your promises. Maybe Master is giving you too much credit. Jack would be a much more accurate name from what I can see."

"Hey, I resemble that remark!" Jack piped up.

"Not now, Jack," the Doctor muttered under his breath.

"Don't compare me with that thing!" the Master exploded, venting his anger. He turned to tell the ex-Time Agent where he could shove his humor, before shooting him again, when he noticed that the Doctor and his companions were no longer standing by the table but rather had moved towards the door. He narrowed his eyes. "Doctor, did I tell you that you could move?"

"Sorry. Got to go. Lots to do, especially since I got what I came for." The Doctor used his screwdriver to open the door. "Bye!" He turned to his friends. "Run!" he ordered, bolting down the corridor, pulling Glad along as he ran.

"I thought we were going to stop them from taking over the world!" Jack exclaimed, keeping pace with the speeding Time Lord.

"We are! But I needed to get the Black Eye away from the Master first," the Gallifreyan replied.

Overhearing the Doctor's shouted response to the thing's comment, the Master looked down at the table where the Black Eye had been, his face blanching. "Lothos, stop them!"

"Don't you order me!" Lothos argued back, still upset from the meltdown between them, but nonetheless shot a laser in their direction, catching Jack in his shoulder just as the trio passed the first fire door down the corridor.

"Oh, brilliant!" the Master berated, seeing Jack stumble from the impact. "You shot the wrong one. He can't die, you idiot! It won't matter to him... much."

"Don't call me an idiot!" Lothos spat back.

Seeing the laser strike Jack and watching him fall to the floor, the Doctor and Glad skidded to a stop to return to their fallen friend. "Are you okay?" he asked with concern.

"I'm getting really tired of being shot at here!" Jack complained.

"I bet," came the Gallifreyan's response. He looked in the direction from whence they came and noticed that the guards, who were just now realizing they needed to pursue them, running towards them. Jumping to his feet, he quickly slapped the emergency door close, watching as the guards increased their speed to reach the door. Seconds after they slipped on the other side, the fire door shut and the Doctor quickly locked the seal shut with his sonic, leaving the guards on the other side.

"Well, if you kept your mouth shut sometimes you wouldn't get shot," Glad aimed at Jack. "I didn't disagree with what you said but, like the Father's used to tell us, better to say nothing if what you say is hurtful."

"She's right, Jack," the Doctor commented.

"What is this? Gang up on old Jack day? Sheesh!"

"Well, as Sam told me once, sometimes it takes gang to get through to someone," Glad countered.

"Now really isn't the time to be arguing over Jack's sense of humor," the Doctor put in. "How's that shoulder?" he questioned Jack.

"I'm fine," Jack answered, moving said shoulder slightly. "Hurts like hell, though."

"Then, come on," the Gallifreyan ordered. "We need to get out of here." Even as he spoke, the door creaked, gaining their attention. "Oh... that's not good," the Doctor commented. The three of them watched the door, waiting to see if their escape would soon have been in vain.


	13. Chapter 13

**Chapter 13**

On the other side of the door, while the Doctor and Glad were berating Jack on his inability to prevent his thoughts from becoming vocal, the Master sighed, shaking his head. He had watched the guards rushing towards the door and failing to pass through. He turned to Peri with obvious exasperation. "Morons," he said, raising his hands only to drop them to his side. "We're surrounded by morons." He glared up at the ceiling. "And you blame me for their idiocy?"

"Remember, you approved all the guards!" Lothos called down to him.

"From the materials you provided!" the Master countered.

"You just make damn sure that Beckett is captured."

The Master rolled his eyes as he moved down the corridor to join the guards. "Out of the way, Larry, Curly and Moe," he ordered. Pulling out his own sonic screwdriver, he aimed it at the door and activated it. The guards stood, staring at him. "Well? Open the door! Get them!"

The guards, seeing the anger on the Master's face, went to work to get the fire door opened.

Taking Peri's arm, the Master pulled her away from the working men, out of their hearing range. "Did you see the pendant on that girl's neck?"

"That gaudy Egyptian crap? Not very fashionable in my opinion."

"It is rather repugnant, isn't it?" the Time Lord agreed. "But aside from its less than aesthetic qualities... the gem in the center... I recognize it and it's as important as the meteorite. Quite like it, in fact."

"It's an Eye?" she asked. "But it's so small."

The Time Lord gave her a wicked grin. "I thought you above everyone, my dear, would know that size doesn't matter."

"Oh, Harry," she said with a smile. Then growing serious, she asked, "So, in addition to the meteorite, we need the necklace too."

"Absolutely," he agreed wholeheartedly. "However..." He hesitated, concern clear in his eyes. "The Doctor's unpredictability - and Lothos' incompetence - does mean that this whole situation could go south very quickly and very badly. The necklace and the Eye cannot be allowed to touch. When I said I was familiar with what I feel from the necklace, I mean personally. I've lived with that feeling surrounding me for an indeterminable amount of time until you saved me. You can't live inside an Eye, even insubstantially, without recognizing it." Seeing her thinking hard about his words, he clarified it even as he saw her brilliant mind make the connection. "I don't know how but that necklace has a piece of the Eye of Harmony, a positively charged stabilized black hole. When matter and anti-matter meet..."

She looked at him in horror. "Yes, of course." She paused. "Maybe that's his plan."

"Of course, it is. Why else alter the biofield to prevent anything from entering or leaving? If he hadn't done that, I would have disagreed with that assessment. But the Doctor actually cares about the creatures that inhabit this planet and he'd protect them at the cost of his own life." He cupped her face gently. "Just as I would do the same for you." Reaching into his pocket, he pulled out an odd-looking wristband. "Take this," he ordered.

"What is it?" she asked, looking at the bizarre piece of jewelry.

"It's a Delaxi teleport wristband. Even a transduction barrier is no obstacle for this. With it, you can get as far away from this place as possible," the Master told her. Slipping it on her wrist, he ordered, "Go."

"I'm not leaving you, Harry."

He laughed at her words. "Of course you are because I command it. If things go pear shaped - and they inevitably do when the Doctor is involved - I want to make sure that you are safe."

"But what about you? I don't think I'd want to survive if you weren't here with me."

"I have to get those Eyes, Peri, or all our work will be for nothing. Once I do that and have defeated the Doctor, I will drop the biofield and come for you."

"You promise?" she asked looking deep into his eyes, her concern for his well-being obvious.

"Of course, I do. You're my queen. I'd never abandon you."

She started to activate the wristband as he showed her but then stopped. "If you can't stop the Doctor... matter/anti-matter explosion, right?"

"You doubt my ability to stop him?"

"Harry, you may have the ability to regenerate but even you can't survive that," she berated, fear clear on her face.

He rolled his eyes. "It isn't going to happen."

"And you can give me an iron-clad guarantee about that, can you?"

"I'm the Master," he responded as if that were the guarantee she needed.

"And he's the Doctor. From what you've told me about him..." She paused. "I do trust you, darling. I just want to be absolutely certain that nothing will happen to you."

"Peri, you're a scientist. You know that there are no absolute certainties. But the chances are..." He sighed in frustration of the look on her face. "Would you just go already, you stubborn woman! Seriously! Sometimes I wonder what in Omega's reign I was thinking marrying you."

"You were thinking that we're perfect for each other. You've said so many times."

"Well... I was wrong," he lied and it showed in his eyes. "You never obey me when it's important. I order you to leave but you just won't go! Why won't you just go?"

"Because, darling, I love you. I have almost since the moment we found you in that Eye."

He growled in frustration. "I can't even break your heart, can I? I can't make you want to leave me."

"No," she said with finality.

Abruptly, he grabbed her wrist with one hand while reaching into his pocket with the other. A second later, a high-pitched whine reached their ears and then was quickly gone. Lips pressed against Peri's, hard and wanting, before three words were spoken. "I love you," he whispered into her ear before pressing the activation button and quickly standing back.

Peri found herself on the other side of Melbourne from the Prometheus Institute. "No... No... No...You can't do this to me, Harry! I told you..." Her rant ended abruptly when she noticed there were people staring. "What the hell are you looking at? Go back to whatever you were doing!" The people slowly walked on, though their eyes continued to stay on her. Ignoring them, she looked at the teleport on her wrist. "If you can send me here, then I can go back," she said with determination. Pressing the button on the wristband, she waited for a result and instead got a small electrical outburst as the device short circuited. "No!" Going to the nearest wall, she kicked it with her boot and then jumped up and down at the resulting pain. "Damn it, Harry! You've gone too far. When I get my hands on you, you are so going to pay for this. Of course, you'll probably enjoy that!" Sighing, she turned and moved closer to the street. Putting out her hand, she called out, "Taxi!"

DWQLTWDWQLTW

The fire door slowly started to open, a sliver of light emerging from the other side as the Doctor and his friends watched.

"I say... run," the Doctor suggested. He looked to his companions for consensus.

"Sounds good to me," Jack commented.

"Me too," Glad agreed.

Almost synchronistically, the three ran from the opening door, turning a corner and seeing the elevator at the far end. A few long strides towards the lift and they came to a stop, Jack pressing the call button the moment they arrived.

"Typical," he complained. "They shut down the lifts. This way!" he instructed, starting in one direction, the Doctor and Glad following. A moment later, they turned around and ran the direction they had come, two guards a couple of dozen yards behind them.

Turning yet another corner, the Doctor skidded to an abrupt stop as he pulled out his sonic, unlocked a door and gestured his friends to hurry in before following them. Closing the door, he locked it quickly and then motioned his companions to remain quiet. The sound of running footsteps passed the room but no one said a word until the Doctor finally relaxed visibly. "I'm thinking the staircase isn't an option anymore either, based on the foot traffic out there," he commented. "You'd think everyone would have gotten out with that fire alarm."

"The guards probably weren't allowed to leave," Jack pointed out.

The Doctor just tilted his head slightly and returned it in an odd conceding motion. "Does put a damper on Plan C. Or rather Plan D, rather, since Plans A through C got tossed out the window. Well, Plan C is still a possibility but not one I want to do unless I absolutely have to."

Glad frowned. "I think I'm lost. What are Plans A through C?"

"Plan A was realigning the biofield so that we could escape through it after retrieving the Black Eye and ensuring the Master's capture while also permanently incapacitating Lothos. That turned into Plan B in the generator room, remember? With me having to make the biofield more permanent to either prevent the Master's escape or ensure no one is hurt outside of the building due to a matter/antimatter explosion. Then Jack caused Plan C by pulling the fire alarm, which was basically Plan B only without getting you two out ahead of time before I surrendered myself to get hold of the Eye and destroy the complex," the Doctor reminded her in quick succession.

"And Plan D?"

"Sort of a mix of Plan C and Plan A, namely, now that we have the Black Eye and have a means to escape, according to Jack. But with there being guards in every corridor, it's making escape a little... cumbersome, especially since we still don't know how Jack intends to get us out of the biofield and I haven't been able to contact UNIT to secure the Master's capture."

Jack spoke up. "Thus it's time for Plan E."

"Plan E? You know, we will eventually to run out of letters in the English alphabet at this rate," Glad commented.

"No, because Plan E is the most reasonable," the immortal man stated. He looked at the Doctor. "You have the Black eye, right?"

The Gallifreyan pulled the object in question from his coat pocket. "Viola!" He examined the object with a grin of victory on his face. "Now, we sabotage the main computer to this complex, effectively destroying Lothos. We call in UNIT to arrest the Master. And once everything is settled, we take this as far away from Earth as possible to some isolated planet where no one can find it ever."

The ex-Time Agent shook his head. "We don't have enough time to do that. We really only have one shot at this. Hence, Plan E."

"But it's a good plan," the Doctor protested slightly.

Glad, too, seemed less than thrilled with the Doctor's argument. "We don't even know where the computer is. Besides, how do we know UNIT will get here soon enough?"

"I have connections, remember? Plus we don't have to worry about time once we are on the other side of the biofield. It will hold the Master until UNIT does get here. Besides, what's wrong with sabotaging the computer and letting UNIT take the Master into custody? I'm trying to avoid loss of life as much as possible," the Gallifreyan replied, his eyes oddly focused on the Eye.

Shaking his head again, Jack stated, "You don't know for certain that the biofield will hold the Master. Add to that, he's already turned a good number of people into zombies, Doctor. How do we know that UNIT is totally unaffected? Especially any team that's close enough to Australia to deal with this threat reasonably."

"Well, they aren't zombies yet. At least, I don't believe they are. Not as long as we shut this operation down," came the answer. The tone of the Time Lord's voice indicated that his mind was elsewhere. "I could do it," he whispered.

Glad's head snapped towards the Time Lord. Her forehead creased as she looked at him suspiciously. "Do what, Doctor?"

"The Master is obsessed with galactic domination. Whole civilizations would fall to him if he did it. Which is why we can't let him have the Eye. But in the hands of someone responsible... someone who would use it for good... I can do it. I can bring back the Time Lords, start a new Gallifrey... my people could rise again."

Jack turned to the Doctor and saw the intense look he was giving the Eye in his hand. "Doctor, you know you can't do that."

"Why not?" the Doctor demanded. "There's only the two of us, Jack. The last of our kind. How can I let this opportunity pass? I can keep strict control over it, make just enough Time Lords to start a developing civilization. Then put the Eye in the center of an uninhabited planet, make a new Gallifrey."

"The end of the Time Lords is a fixed event. This kind of power is something no living being should control."

The Doctor's head shot up, his dark eyes meeting Jack's. "Don't tell me about fixed events!" came the growled response. "I'm a Time Lord. I can taste time. I breathe it. It's part of me. I may not be able to change the past, but I can certainly start a new future."

Jack's eyes grew soft seeing his friend struggling with the power of the eye. "Would you be another Rassilon?"

The Gallifreyan took a startled step back. "You've heard of Rassilon." He blinked for a moment. "Of course. All the legends of Gallifrey you've heard before you met me." He sniffed, rubbing his face with his free hand as he thought about Jack's words. "I met him, you know. Rassilon. A long time ago. He was brilliant. Very wise." He paused, examining the Eye in his hand. "But there were some accounts that said he was also a ruthless dictator... that he ruled over Gallifrey with an iron hand, stamping out rebellions." The tone in his voice said that he knew far more about the subject than rumors and legends portrayed.

Jack didn't say anything aloud. He just continued to look at the Doctor, willing him to do the right thing.

Glad wasn't silent. "Well, I don't know who this Rassilon was but if that thing," she said nodding to the Eye, "can turn you into a ruthless dictator then I vote no."

"You know, I was President of the High Council once," the Doctor said softly. "Had all the power of Gallifrey. I fled from it the moment I could, though. For a long time, I thought that I just didn't want the responsibilities of that office, that it would hamper me down. But perhaps... perhaps I was too dangerous for the office. Maybe... subconsciously..." He swallowed tightly before taking a slow, slightly shaky breath. Closing his eyes, he ordered, "Take it from me. Now. I can't trust myself with it."

"Sure, Gollum," Jack quipped, taking the Eye out of his hand.

"Hey, I'm not calling it 'precious'... although in this case it actually is. Do you know how rare a stable condensed black hole is?"

"Yeah. I know, Doctor. Doesn't make it any less powerful in trying to seduce you." He looked at the meteorite, appreciating the importance of the item. "You're doing the right thing, Doctor," he said somewhat anticlimactically.

"Almost didn't, though," the Time Lord admitted. "I almost took that thing and ran with it, dragging the Master in chains with me, locking him away for years to go slowly mad just like he would have done to me." He glanced at the Eye, now in Jack's hands. "There's something... evil... about that thing. I felt it with the sliver we found in the Outback. I didn't say anything, putting it down as just a sense of foreboding that involvement with the Master always brings about. But that Eye... it's from a negatively charged universe. It's almost like it's... drawing the dark half of me out." He gave the impossibility a hateful glare. "That thing must be destroyed."

"It will be," Jack stated emphatically. "And that is Plan E. I just need the Eye in Glad's necklace. I'll give you the time to get out and then I'll get blown to individual atoms again."

Glad looked at the Doctor, remembering the explosion outside the TARDIS when Jack had destroyed the slivers. "Will he be all right, Doctor?"

"You can't," the Doctor told Jack bluntly. "You could be killed, Jack. And I don't mean killed and then come back. I mean permanently destroyed. You know, firsthand, what a single sliver of that Eye did when it connected with a sliver of Glad's Eye. Magnify that by a billion, especially since the blast will be contained by the field. I can't let you do it."

"Doctor, there's really no other choice. We don't have time to wait for UNIT, nor can we be sure the Master won't escape before that could happen."

"You're the one that had the escape plan!"

"Yes, for you and Glad. Always figured Plan E would be what we needed to do." He paused. "Why do you think we keep having this time repeat? That all of us are in this place at this particular time? You, Sam, Glad, Margaret, Me... Why do you think that this is the absolute longest leap that Sam's ever experienced? Use your Time Lordy sense you keep bragging about. What's the alternative? What happens if we don't stop this now?"


	14. Chapter 14

**Chapter 14**

Jack's matter of fact acceptance that 'Plan E' was the only way grated on the Doctor. He knew that Jack, being a leaper a couple of times over, knew what the alternate realities of time were concerning stopping the Master. How nothing seemed to have worked otherwise. But it didn't stop the odd feeling that this sort of situation, in some other reality, had already happened and, in that reality, Jack didn't return as he would under normal circumstances. It was a frightening thought. "You don't have to do this, Jack. We'll find another way."

"There is no other way. Being a fixed point has its advantages."

"And what if this is it? Hmm? You might be a fixed point now but what if..." The Time Lord trailed, biting his lip and turning his head away as he gathered his thoughts before looking into Jack's eyes. "We can't take the chance. _I_ can't take the chance. A universe without you just wouldn't be..."

A brilliant smile captured Jack's boyish face. "Are you saying you'd really miss me, Doctor? I'm touched."

The Gallifreyan growled in frustration. "For once, Jack Harkness, would you not be so damned flippant!"

As if a switch had been thrown, the bright blue of Jack's eyes lost their merriment and became hard and serious. "You have to trust me, Doctor. I'm not sacrificing myself but I'd be willing to if it meant saving this reality. And saving this reality is what only I can do right now. You have to have faith it's the right decision. Please... trust me."

"I do trust you, Jack. I always have. Well... maybe not always." Seeing the ex-Time Agent give him a knowing half grin that spoke to a deep understanding between them, the Doctor exhaled before gathering Jack into his arms and holding him in a tight hug. "I so hate it when you're right," he breathed, though his tone of voice indicated a caring for the immortal man that went beyond mere friendship.

Jack's body flowed into the embrace hesitantly as if there was part of him that couldn't believe it was real. While the Doctor and he had hugged before on several adventures, this one was different, intense. It felt as if the Time Lord was conveying to him with that gesture a deep bond between them, though it wasn't on the level that Jack had always hoped for. Rather, it was clear with that hug that the Doctor viewed him almost like a beloved son or brother. The ex-Time Agent hugged back and after what seemed like an eternity did something he'd never done before. He initiated the break between them, quipping, "Well... if we keep this up, the Master will win by default."

"Can't have that happen," the Doctor agreed, his expression showing just how embarrassed he was concerning his sudden show of emotion and grateful that Jack had found a way to end it graciously. "So... Plan E, then. Jack will use the Eyes to... do what needs to be done after he shows us his great escape route. Which means that we need to access the Eye in Glad's pendant..." He glanced at the ornament on Glad's chain, a ponderous look on his face. His eyes widened slightly as a realization came to him. "Oh!" he cried out. "Of course! She's brilliant! Absolutely brilliant!" Seeing the confusion on his friends' faces, he clarified. "Merlin's grandmother! She was a Time Lord. She knew this was going to happen and she planned for it. Glad, she made your pendant!"

"Merlin was a Time Lord?" Glad asked confused.

Jack tilted his head. "How do you know this?"

"Quarter Time Lord, technically," the Doctor corrected. "Merlyna took a human as her mate and had a son who was half-Time Lord, who had Merlin." He turned to Jack. "She came to me in a dream I had. Anyway, the point is, Merlyna made the pendant especially for Glad because she knew I would pick her up as a traveling companion when I met her. And she knew that we would come across this problem." He looked between his friends. "Don't you see?"

"Not really," Jack started.

The lights flickered slightly and remaining slightly dimmed.

"Glad," the Doctor continued, turning towards the young lady as he ignored Jack's comment, "when I examined your pendant the other day and discovered that the jewel was in fact an Eye, I also made another discovery. Do you remember what it was? Your pendant, the actual metallic portion, is a personal force field."

Glad smiled. "And if Jack is holding it then he won't be hurt!" she finished happily.

"Exactly!" the Time Lord exclaimed. "I thought at first it was only for you. But it isn't. Not entirely. It's for Jack."

"Well, I've got to admit, that sounds more pleasant than being blown to smithereens," Jack commented. "Especially after being shot with bullets twice and a laser once."

"Microscopic atoms aren't easy to recover from, no," the Doctor agreed. He gave Glad a grin. "So... lend him your pendant? I'm sure he'll give it back once he's done using it."

Glad took off the pendant, releasing the catch and taking out the White Eye. She looked at it and the pendant for a moment before moving closer to Jack to give him both pieces. The movement caused the laser that had come from an area in the ceiling to miss her and hit the pendant. The laser beam reflected off the shiny surface and hit the wall, causing extensive damage to its surface.

"Damn! I missed," Lothos said sourly from the ceiling.

"Take cover!" the Doctor ordered, grabbing Glad and pulling her quickly to the closest hiding place he could find from the laser, namely a wooden desk.

Lothos' voice dripped as he addressed Jack, "I think it's time I finished the job I started when you ran from the room."

"Oh, you're a perfectionist, are you?" Jack quipped back.

"Jack, get down!" the Doctor called out to him.

With cruelty, Lothos continued. "I'll enjoy slicing you up, making sure I don't hit anything vital for awhile. Your screams will be delicious to hear."

"You know, putting yourself into a computer was a bad idea. You obviously haven't had any for a while. Tends to make people crabby," the ex-Time Agent continued.

"Jack! Stop it!" the Doctor started.

Jack rolled his eyes. "Oh, come on, Doctor. Even I'm not interested in finding out if our ports and plug-ins connect. It's a computer!"

The Doctor looked at Jack in amazement. "Is that all you think about? For Rassilon's sake! Find cover! I need you in one piece, not in a thousand." He pulled Glad close to him as she whimpered in fear for their friend.

Jack blinked. "Oh. Right." He dove for a desk as the computer shot another laser beam at him catching him in his lower leg. He cried out in pain, pressing himself against the piece of furniture.

"Damn you, Doctor!" Lothos cried. "The Master was right about one thing. You're a menace and pain in our side. Time to take you and that teenybopper down." Another laser beam shot in their direction, barely missing Glad again.

Glad screamed as the laser struck Jack's leg and then screamed again as the laser barely missed her. The Doctor pulled her closer to him, moving further into the safety of the desk. "Jack, you okay?" he questioned with concern.

"I will be," came the reply.

The computer was in his element. The screams from the young girl wetted his appetite for more. He started shooting the laser randomly in all directions. "I don't think the Master would mind too much if I maimed you all some more before I contact him."

The Time Lord watched the lasers seemingly bounce around the room. "Seems to me you're having a bit of trouble with the maiming part of your plan," he called out. Muttering to himself, he glanced towards the door. "Though it is making it a bit of a problem trying to reach the door." Raising his voice again, he added, "Something wrong with your targeting, Lothos? Can't locate us?" He grimaced at his own words, realizing that he was taunting the computer back just as Jack had done only a moment before.

As the Doctor spoke, the laser shot directly towards his voice, burning a deep groove into the desk they were hiding behind. "Not at all. Just putting a random element into the mix."

"Doctor..." Glad whispered, terror in her voice.

"You know, we could just stay where we are until you get bored," the Doctor piped, touching Glad's shoulder to help calm her.

"Oh, I won't get bored and, quite frankly, I'm about ready to call the Master in. Perhaps if I give him what he wants, he'll work all the harder to give me what _I_ want. Unless you want to tell me where Beckett can be found?"

"I haven't a clue at the moment," the Gallifreyan replied. "Besides, even if I did, there isn't a chance that I would tell you within any of my lifetimes."

"Can we get out of here, though? He's got those lasers and the Master's on his way," Glad pointed out.

"Working on it," he told her. Slowly raising himself to get a peek at the room, he quickly ducked back down as a laser zipped past his head. "That was a bit close." Having seen that the only means of escape was on the other side of a random array of laser beams, the Doctor thought quickly, digging into his coat pockets.

Another laser beam was shot in Jack's direction as he started to peak from behind the desk which was his hiding place, pulling himself back before the beam could touch him. "Doctor..."

"I'm working on it!" he shouted back. Continuing to rifle through his pockets, he frowned. "Where is it?" he growled to himself. Feeling the object of his search, his face beamed a victorious smile. "Ha!" Turning to Glad, he ordered, "Get down as far as you can." Raising his head, he looked up at the ceiling. "Lothos!"

Lothos turned his attention towards the direction of the Doctor. "Yes?"

"Stop the lasers! Just for a moment!"

"Why should I?" the computer asked warily.

"We can negotiate, can't we?"

"You can't be serious!" Jack called to him, his expression reflecting his stunned tone.

"Negotiate?" Lothos said as if considering the concept. "There's only one thing I want and you've already said you're not giving him up."

"Yeah, well... given our current situation, there has to be some room for negotiation. I mean... we're at your mercy, right? So, what's the harm in just listening to my proposal?"

"Don't try anything."

"I don't carry weapons. I don't believe in them," the Doctor assured, still tucked down to avoid the onslaught.

"Then tell me your proposal," Lothos offered.

"Stop the lasers first!"

Lothos stopped the random shots. "I've done my part. Now, let's hear your proposal." He paused. "Hopefully it's better than the last proposal from a Time Lord I heard. You people just aren't easy to deal with."

"You've only known one of us until this point. Bit of a jump to conclusions there." Nevertheless, the Doctor slowly stood up, carefully looking about to be certain that Lothos had kept his word. Seeing that the lasers had indeed stopped, he straightened noticeably. "There. This is better, isn't it? Just a nice conversation, you and me. No lasers bouncing about the room, destroying perfectly good furniture."

"It's my furniture to destroy," the computer replied petulantly.

"Bit rubbish, though, isn't it? Destroying your own furniture?" The Gallifreyan glanced around the room. "I'm seeing... oh, dear... has to be about three or four thousand quid's worth of damage. Costly."

"Get to the negotiation, Doctor. I've heard about your stalling tactics."

The Doctor tilted his head from side to side. "Well... see, I sort of lied a moment ago about negotiations. What I am giving is more of an ultimatum." His eyes grew dark. "Both you and the Master are to give up your plans and surrender immediately."

The lights dimmed deeply. "I wonder if the Master would appreciate you being branded with an 'M.' Let's find out," Lothos said as he started shooting the laser beam at the Doctor again.

" _Doctor_!" Glad and Jack called out simultaneously, their eyes filled with terror.

Not for the first time in his life, the Gallifreyan was grateful for his lightning fast Time Lord reflexes as he whipped up a small rectangular object, placing it between himself and the oncoming laser beam. With a brilliant flash and a spark, the laser bounced rapidly back the way it had come from, causing a shower of vibrant sparks to fall from the mechanism on the ceiling from whence the laser had come. Abruptly, the laser stopped as a thin layer of smoke swept through the room.

"Ah, that's just brilliant!" Jack said, impressed.

"I thought so," the Doctor agreed, a manic grin on his face.

Glad didn't say anything but threw herself at him wrapping her arms around him. "We're safe!" she finally exclaimed once she found the words.

The Time Lord laughed at her reaction, returning the hug tightly. "Were you worried, my dear?"

"Well," she said a bit tentatively, "I was afraid the dream was coming true."

He looked gently into her eyes. "I'd never let that happen," he assured her.

Jack looked at the two of them. "Um... I doubt that Lothos has been fully neutralized and I know he isn't just going to turn tail and run since you just bested him. I suggest we get the hell out of Dodge." Going to the door, he looked out into the corridor, not seeing anyone. "Back to the generator room?"

"Generator room for you?" the Doctor questioned Glad.

"Why are we going to the generator room?" the girl questioned.

"Because we've already taken care of the biofield. The Master wouldn't think that we'd go back. Why should we?" Jack pointed out.

"And Lothos having us pinned down in this room... well, we aren't exactly hidden anymore," the Doctor added.

"Exactly," Jack stated.

"Oh. Generator room," she agreed.

The group made their way back to their original destination before continuing the conversation. "Okay ...next order of business," Jack stated the moment the door was closed. "We get the two of you out of danger before I take on destroying this complex." He took a bracelet out of his pocket. "Here. This will get the two of you on the other side of the biofield."

The Doctor stared at the object in Jack's hand. "That's a Delaxi teleport wristband. Where did you find it, especially since they're completely illegal?"

"And your point is?" Jack stated. Seeing the Time Lord's face, he sighed slightly. "Okay, I hid it on the TARDIS years ago. Not long after we met. Never know when you need the ability to leave."

"You already had a vortex manipulator. What would you need with a device that could easily cause a war? And why didn't you tell me you had one before? We wouldn't have had to go through everything so far if we had used it... not that I condone the use of illegal weaponry... But still..."

"Illegal weaponry?" Glad questioned. "I thought you said it was a teleport wristband. Doesn't that just move someone from one place to another?"

"In this case, a Delaxi teleport can move someone through defensive systems designed to keep most other teleport systems out," the Time Lord explained. "The Delaxi used them to move soldiers onto the surface of planets they conquered. Thus the reason they were declared illegal the moment the Shadow Proclamation stopped the Delaxi when they tried to conquer a protected planet."

"Right. Which is why I didn't tell you when I hid it on the TARDIS, given that you didn't exactly trust me completely when we first met. Let's just say the teleport was a backup to the manipulator. Always plan ahead." He then stopped and changed direction in his argument. "The reason I didn't tell you I had it until just now is simple. We're at Plan E now, right? If we'd used it before, we would have given it to Sam and Margaret and that means we wouldn't have it now and both of you would be up the proverbial creek. Like I said, always plan ahead."

Exhaling with slight frustration but understanding the need for the teleport Jack was offering, the Doctor took the wristband and put it on. "The minute we are done here, this is going back in the TARDIS where no one can find it. The last thing I need is a Judoon platoon after either of us for harboring contraband weapons."

"Fine. Whatever you have to do. Now, though, you need to get out of here so we can end any possibility of the Master's Pi network succeeding."

"Hold on..." the Time Lord stated, digging into his pockets before pulling out his mobile. "Lothos doesn't know where Sam and Margaret are which means that they aren't in their custody. Before you go blowing this building into rubble, let's just make sure they're safely out." Without waiting for a reply, he dialed the necessary number to contact Sam before placing the phone to his ear. The phone rang several times without an answer, causing the Doctor to frown. "Sam's not answering," he told the others, his voice tinted with concern. Immediately, he dialed the number assigned to Maggie's mobile, hoping that her aversion to technology wouldn't prevent her from pressing the "Talk" button. Again, no answer. "Something's wrong."

Jack pulled out his phone. "Let me try." He dialed Sam's number. "No answer." When he tried Margaret, the phone started to ring and abruptly cut off. "That's weird. Try Margaret's mobile again."

Pressing the "Talk" button to redial the last number called, the Doctor listened the phone rang five times before being answered.

"Gawd, now I know why I hate these things," the Australian woman answered. "I'll have to get back to you." The phone again went dead.

The Doctor stared at his mobile with wide eyes. "Well... Margaret's okay... I think."

"You don't seem too sure. What did she say?" Jack asked.

"She knows now why she hates mobiles and she'll get back to me. And then she hung up."

"At least now you know what that feels like."

"What what feels like?" the Gallifreyan questioned.

"What being hung up on feels like," the immortal man pointed out.

"Oi, I didn't hang up on you. Rose's mobile ran out of battery. That is completely different."

"Didn't feel like it," Jack stated.

The Doctor just shook his head. "But at least she did answer the mobile so..." Pulling out his sonic screwdriver, he aimed it at his phone. "I can do a jiggery pokery and isolate exactly where her signal had originated and..." He beamed a wide smile that also showed relief. "Margaret is outside the biofield. We're going to have to assume that Sam is with her. I'm sure she would have said something otherwise."

"Definitely," Jack answered. "Now, do you want to use the sonic to make sure that two can travel on the transport? I'd hate to leave any parts of the two of you on this side of the biofield."

The Gallifreyan nodded in agreement, the look in his eyes saying that he should have thought of it himself. "Right. Not a pleasant thing to live through." Another whirr of his ever-present tool later and the Doctor tucked it back into his jacket pocket. "Glad, give me your hand," he instructed. Placing her hand on the bracelet and holding it there, he then looked at Jack, sympathy in his eyes. "I don't envy you, Jack, protective pendant or no. But I promise... I'll be here when it's over."

"Thanks, Doctor." They were about to leave when the Doctor's phone rang again.

"Oh, now she has time to talk," he grumbled, letting go of Glad's hand. "And I set up the perfect exit moment." Pulling out his mobile, he answered, "Margaret, please tell me you have a good reason to keep me waiting."

"Would the fact that you called right at the moment Sam was being moved into an ambulance count?"

Instantly, the expression on the Time Lord's face dropped into worry.

"What?" Glad asked, seeing the change in expression. Jack appeared equally concerned.

"What happened?" the Doctor questioned Maggie, ignoring Glad's question.

"Some bastard shot him. Might have killed him if he hadn't gotten fried by the biofield. Ugly, that."

The Gallifreyan exhaled slowly. "The Master's friend Reginald," he realized. "What's Sam's condition?"

"The EMT's say he's lost a lot of blood but they believe he'll survive." She paused. "He'll need shoulder surgery..." She paused again. "Can they do that? The aura thing?"

The Doctor shook his head but not to negate her hopes. "I don't know. Never encountered a situation like this before. Never had to worry about auras. Male and female human shoulders are similar, aren't they?"

Jack looked at the Doctor, not at all following how shoulders could have anything to do with Sam and Margaret but knowing condition meant something had occurred, something that was related to Reginald Torkinson. "What's she saying?"

"Torkinson shot Sam, apparently in the shoulder. And he needs surgery for the damage," the Doctor responded, watching as his friend's faces dropped. Taking a breath, he handed the phone to Jack. "You know more about the way Quantum Leap works."

Jack took the phone. After exchanging a short acknowledgement, he went into what he knew. "There shouldn't be a problem with the surgery. They'll see a damaged shoulder. It will look like Rose's but the treatment should be to Sam... at least that's the way I think it will work. Even with the pregnancy, they saw his host's body."

"Pregnancy?" the Doctor, Glad and Maggie said, all in perfect synchronization.

"Long story. Point is, he should be fine at the hospital." He then looked to the Doctor and Glad. "Margaret, gotta go. What hospital will you be at? The Doctor and Glad will meet you there." Obtaining the name of the hospital, he finished the call before turning to the Time Lord. "St. Vincent's Health. Now, it's time to leave." He looked over at his friend, a moment of questioning in his eyes. "Listen... just in case..."

"Jack..." the Doctor started.

The ex-conman took a step towards him, cupping the Doctor's face. "You take care of the girls and Sam, Doctor. And take care of yourself." Leaning forward, he placed a firm but brief kiss on the Gallifreyan's lips before giving his friends a broad smile. "See you in hell." Without further word, he bounded out of the room, turning to the right and further into the complex.

Glad's eyes widened. "My cousin didn't even do that!" she breathed.

"Well, I hope not!" the Doctor exclaimed. "It's one thing coming from a human from the 51st century. But from a 4th century ancestor?"

Glad looked at the Doctor strangely. "Ancestor?"

He grabbed her hand. "I'll explain later. We have to leave." He practically forced her hand onto the bracelet before pressing the activation button, causing both of them to vanish from the room to arrive safely outside of the biofield. "Now... where is St. Vincent's?"


	15. Chapter 15

**Chapter 15**

The hospital where Sam had been taken for treatment had obviously been a staple of the Melbourne community for several decades while, at the same time, having all the modern facilities necessary for a severe gunshot wound. When the Doctor and Glad had arrived at the building via cab, the Time Lord immediately marched into the Accident and Emergency ward as if he owned the building itself and went to the reception desk. "You admitted a patient with a gunshot wound about thirty minutes ago," the Doctor stated firmly. "I need to see her."

The nurse looked at him with somewhat bored eyes as if she'd heard this particular pitch before. "Yes, we did admit a patient that meets that description but I'm not going to just let you waltz up here and claim you need to see her and then blithely give you access. This is a hospital, sir, not a social club."

"I'm her Doctor," the Galllifreyan put in, hoping to persuade the nurse to cooperate. "Dr. John Smith." He habitually reached into his jacket to pull out his psychic paper only to find it missing. He groaned under his breath. "I gave it to Sam," he remembered.

"Gave what to Sam? No... never mind." She nodded to the waiting room. "You'll need to sit over there. I'll see if we can't get someone to speak with you in a moment." She then looked behind him. "Next..."

The Doctor blinked at her for a moment, clearly unwilling to allow her to win this particular battle but unable to figure out how he was going to get through the innermost sanctum of the emergency department without breaking a few laws and getting arrested in the process. Realizing that the nurse wouldn't budge on her stance, he exhaled slowly, moving away to allow the next person to have their turn with the nurse. "I hate waiting," he grumbled to Glad.

"Oh, stop being a baby. I waited two days to see the king before you found me."

"That's different. Sir Huge... and yes, I am mispronouncing his name deliberately to reflect that ego of his... wouldn't let you in when you should have been in two days before. This is a matter of life and death, not of dresses and a tapestry."

"It was a matter of life and death for me," she protested. "After all, if I didn't have clothes...well, you know how cold England can get in the winter."

"It's not that cold," he told her.

"Try it without clothes."

He looked at her with a frown of curiosity as they found themselves in the middle of the waiting room, blocking people's view of the television. "How would you know what England feels like in the winter without clothes? What are you, a member of the Polar Bear Club?"

"What's the Polar Bear Club? Is that anything like the Mickey Mouse Club? I love that song. M...I...C...K...E...Y..." she started.

A voice interrupted her song, obviously upset. "Sit your arse on down," it sang, finishing the song with altered lyrics.

"Yeah!" came a call of agreement from another person.

"What?" Glad asked. "You don't like Mickey Mouse? He's so cute."

The Doctor grabbed her arm and gently pulled her away from the middle of the area. "I think they are more offended with our volume and location than with your affection for animated rodents."

"Oh. Okay," she agreed. "He is cute. Minnie I think needs a better choice of wardrobe... but Mickey's fine."

"What's wrong with cute colorful dresses?" the Gallifreyan questioned, sitting her down on the far end of the waiting room, a far from other people as possible so as to avoid another social mishap.

"They're just too... well, Sam calls it 'fu-fu.'" She shrugged. "I just think they're sort of impractical and... well... ugly."

"Ugly?" the Time Lord questioned. He gave a melodramatic huff. "You wound me, Glad." He gave her a grin to let her know that he wasn't in the least bit offended by her opinion.

Before Glad could respond, they heard a call from the other side of the room. "Doctor. I'm so very glad to see you both!" She looked over to Glad. "Do you know your blood type?"

"Blood type?" she questioned with a frown. "What's that?" She looked at the Doctor for an explanation.

"Every living being has a different type of blood based on the presence or absence of inherited antigenic substances on the surface of red blood cells," he started, gaining a confused look on her face. "It's A positive."

"Good! Sam needs more blood." She started to grab Glad by the hand. "You're perfect!"

"Perfect? For what?" A moment later, she realized exactly what Maggie had said and pulled away from her. "He died, didn't he," she stated, her voice quaking. "He's the walking dead and now... you're going to feed me to him!"

"Are you a dingdong? That's just daft. This isn't the time to start going off on fantasies. Sam needs you."

Glad moved further away from her, fear tingeing her eyes. "She's been possessed!" she exclaimed, hiding behind the Doctor.

The Doctor rolled his eyes at her words, noticing how her actions were gaining unwanted attention - as well as a few expletives about "that bonkers sheila."

"She belongs in a loony bin, you ask me. First singing that damned song and now this vampire garbage. You should do something about your girl, Pops."

"She isn't my daughter," he corrected the voice. Turning to the girl, he tried to calm her. "No one is feeding anyone to anybody, Galadriel."

Maggie let out a breath of annoyance. "Do you want Sam to die? You have the right type of blood and they don't have enough right now. I understand they're bringing some in from a different hospital but right now, he needs enough for stabilization. It's not like it's going to kill you!"

"But you're going to feed him my blood! I'll become a monster too!" Glad protested.

"Maggie," the Time Lord entreated, raising his hand to prevent her continued argument. He then held Glad's shoulders to gain her attention. "Glad, remember what I told you about superstitions? This whole walking undead... I'm going to have to better monitor your movie watching again. Besides it's all just gratuitous violence meant to scare the bejeebees out of you, which it obviously has."

"This has nothing to do with movies!" Glad told him emphatically. "It's a proven fact that if someone dies and comes back to life out to feed on your blood, obviously they've been cursed and I don't want to become a monster too!"

Maggie rolled her eyes. "Oh please. That's just superstitious nonsense. Do you really think if that was the case, I'd be trying to get you to help Sam? Gawd, girl, you really are daft."

"The undead have been known to use people against their wills!" she stated.

The Australian professor gave the Gallifreyan a hard look. "What are you going to do about this, Doctor? She's your ward, right? Can't you order her to help Sam? They're not sure they can keep him stable with what they have in stock and he might not last long enough for them to get the new supply delivered."

"She was raised in the Middle Ages, Margaret. Give the poor girl some consideration instead of badgering her," the Time Lord berated. Nonetheless, he turned Glad's head so that she was looking at him. "Glad, you aren't going to turn into a monster. I promise. What they want to do is take out some of your blood... not all of it," he quickly added when he saw the fear creeping into her face, "... and give it to Sam because he doesn't have enough in his body. He isn't dead but he is very very sick. With enough blood in his body, he will hopefully be able to get better."

"So... if I let them take my blood, Sam will be okay?" she questioned, looking between the Doctor and Maggie. "And neither of us will be monsters?"

"Only the usual monsters you are when raiding my icebox," he told her with a wry grin.

She was still hesitant. "Can you come with me?" It was plainly obvious that the teenager, despite having been so strong up against the Master and his plans, was still a peasant girl from Camelot when faced with being separated from the Doctor for an extended amount of time.

His face dropped slightly. "I can't, Glad. They won't let me back there without proper authorization and I don't have the psychic paper to convince them otherwise."

"Oh, yeah. The wallet." Maggie dug into her pocket. "I took this from Sam when he was being put into the ambulance. Helped me gain a little access." She handed the item to the Doctor.

The Gallifreyan immediately opened the worn leather billfold with a grin of pleasure. "Brilliant!" he exclaimed. He frowned as he read what was on the psychic paper before looking at Maggie. "This is a document proving you're Sarah Tyler's sister."

"Hey, it worked. I figured the best way for me to get in was as a family member or physician. And I'm not really up on anything other than first aid. Can we get going? We really are on a time constraint here," she added, her voice showing anxiety.

"Absolutely," the Doctor agreed, taking Glad's hand and starting for the door into the ward. Raising the psychic paper, he showed the nurse there his credentials - Dr. John Smith, hematologist - telling her that they had a volunteer for a blood transfusion.

"Well... why didn't you say so in the first place, Dr. Smith? Ms. Tyler needs you," the nurse replied, releasing the lock to allow him to enter.

The Time Lord didn't comment, though the expression on his face showed how irritated he was with the nurse, as he guided his friends into the area. They were immediately met by another nurse who had obviously been sent to retrieve them.

"Oh, good. You've found a volunteer," the nurse said with a genial smile. She turned first to the Doctor. "Blood type A positive, yes?"

"The girl, not me. I'm Miss Tyler's doctor, Dr. John Smith." He flashed his psychic paper at the nurse. "Galadriel is... her niece. She's a little nervous about hospitals. Mind if I keep her company during the procedure?"

"Of course not. I'm sure that would not be a problem."

"Can we get the bloody move on?" Maggie stated forcefully. "The transfusion? Remember?"

"Bit anxious?" the Doctor questioned. "Still, she's right. No time to waste."

"Come with me, please," the nurse stated, turning and leading the trio through the ward. Guiding Glad to a room, she pointed to a long bench. "Lie down there and I'll be right with you." As she got things ready, she asked the clerk, "Can you take her history?"

"Right." The man went over to them and filled out the donor chart, ascertaining if there had been any illness, problems with previous blood donations, and other required information which the Doctor answered for her.

Once that was finished, the nurse moved in. "All right, dear. We'll just get this going. Based on your history, we'll take 450 ml."

"How much is that?" she questioned with a frown, looking up at the Doctor, who was holding her free hand.

"About one pint," he told her.

"With that, we can mix in plasma and make enough to help your aunt," the nurse explained.

"Plasma? Isn't that like... a type of energy? Like in the TARDIS?"

"Different kind of plasma," the Time Lord corrected her.

The nurse smiled as she prepared to take the blood. "Budding engineer, are you?" She then became serious. "No. Plasma is the volume component in blood. You'll be providing the blood cells for oxygen transport."

"Oh," she said, considering the nurse's words. "Why don't you call it something else? Having two different things called plasma is really confusing."

Maggie once more moved into the group. "I hate to stop this science lesson but Sa...my sister's life could be in jeopardy."

The nurse gave her a patient smile. "We are doing everything we can as expediently as possible, Dr. Hawthorne." She then tied a strip of rubber tubing around Glad's forearm. "You're going to feel a little prick," she warned as she brought up an ominous looking needle.

"Oh, I hate needles!" Glad exclaimed, clearly upset to see the medical instrument.

"Let's not start this now!" Maggie said, her patience fraying even more.

"Margaret," the Doctor growled at her, his own patience fraying. He turned Glad's head so that she was looking at him. "So, you honestly haven't been watching horror movies?" He gave a hint of a nod to the nurse, telling her with that one motion that he would keep Glad pre-occupied during the procedure.

The nurse took the cue and continued to prep her for the needle to go into her arm.

"No... well... not much. I wanted to watch something called 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' but Jack said it wasn't a good show for me to watch right before going to bed."

"I have 'A Nightmare on Elm Street' in my library?" he questioned with a frown.

She nodded. "Yeah. It's on one of the higher shelves." She crinkled her nose. "I don't know why you'd have so many movies there that are based on the calendar."

His frown increased. "I don't have movies based on the calendar. Well, there is 'The January Man' but that's a murder mystery." Realization came to his face. "So that's what he was buying right after he stopped at the Top Shop for those jeans. Why he likes those horrible films, I have no idea."

"Who?" she questioned before yelping and turning her head towards the nurse, clearly surprised by the sudden twinge of pain in her left arm. "That's hurt!"

"I'm sorry, love. I tried to be as gentle as I could." The nurse then released the rubber tubing that was holding back the blood flow. The tube coming out of Glad's arm began to turn red as the blood began to flow.

Glad stared at it with a mixture of fascination and horror. "I'm bleeding but you're catching it in the bendy straw," she said, plainly awed.

"Yes, and it flows into a bag. Like I said, we'll only take a little. You might be a little dizzy, but other than that, no problems."

"And the best part?" the Doctor added. "You get biscuits and tea afterwards."

"Really? What kind of biscuits? Do they have the ones with the M&M's in them? I really like them. They're so colorful."

"I'll see if I can get a few of those for you," the nurse said with a wink. A few minutes later, she clamped the tubing. "Let me get the needle out and you're all done."

Just as she finished her ministrations, the entire building shook, forcing everyone around Glad to hold onto her hospital couch to maintain their balance. A few moments later, another wave went through the building.

"What the hell was that?" Maggie stated as a third shake rattled them.

"Earthquakes," the Doctor replied, an odd look on his face that blatantly said he was partially lying.

"You sure it isn't Jack?" Glad asked grabbing the side of the bed once more.

The nurse had continued to watch the collection during the tremors. While she looked concerned about the shaking ground, she also was aware that the blood was needed as quickly as possible. Earthquake or not, a patient was relying on the life-giving fluid. During one of the lulls, she finished up. "Let me get this to the lab and I'll be right back with those biscuits."

"Thank you," the girl said as the nurse left the room, yet another somewhat gentler wave shook them.

Once the room was clear of medical personnel, the Gallifreyan finally answered Glad's question. "Of course, it's Jack. I just didn't want the nurse there to think there was something odd happening... or at least something odder than earthquakes. Bad enough that she'll probably hear about the disappearance of the Prometheus Building on the news in about fifteen minutes."

Maggie blinked. "He did it. I hope that means that awful Mr. Saxon is gone."

The Time Lord stood still, thinking about her words. "I'm not sure," he finally admitted. They were shaken once more. "At least they're not as strong now. Force field's working as I planned."

"You're not sure?" Maggie's face took on amazed anger. "You let Jack do that and you don't know if that bastard's gone?"

He shook his head slightly as if to negate what he had said previously. "The Master couldn't have survived the blast," he stated. "He must be dead. I mean, I'd know it if he wasn't, me being a Time Lord and being able to sense the presence of other Time Lords. Well... most of the time. It can be a bit tricky. Sometimes have to have visual identification or scent." He took a breath before giving a nod. "He's dead. Absolutely." He buried his doubts to keep them from showing in his eyes.

"Good," Maggie stated firmly. No one said a word further, the room becoming a silent testimony to their reliving the last several days and the sacrifices they all had to make.

The quiet was disrupted several minutes later with a cheery, "Here you are, love," as the nurse came in with a napkin of cookies and a big paper cup of hot tea. She looked to the others. "I heard on the telly that the authorities don't know exactly what is happening but they don't believe these tremors are going to get worse."

"Hopefully they won't last more than a couple of hours," the Doctor commented.

"A couple of hours?" Maggie questioned.

"Give or take a couple."

"These biscuits have M&M's!" Glad cheered happily as she accepted the treats from the nurse, not concerned about the shaking earth at all. "Thank you!"

"You're welcome," the woman replied with a smile. "You just take your time enjoying them and don't stand up for at least fifteen minutes. Especially if the ground is shaking. We want to make sure that you can walk without getting too dizzy." As she finished with Glad, she said to the others, "Those are some tremors. We usually don't have them around here."

"Yeah, bit odd for East Australia," the Doctor agreed as another one shook them.

"Any word on Sa... my sister?" Maggie questioned worriedly.

"The lab assured me that the blood would be transferred as quickly as possible. I understand she's been holding her own." The nurse looked to Glad. 'I'm sure your contribution will be greatly appreciated." She patted the girl once more on the shoulder. "Now remember, another fifteen minutes and then you can leave. All the paperwork is set so you can either go home or wait in the waiting area until we have news about your aunt."

The teenager just nodded at her words as she munched on an M&M candy off of the cookie, the result being her resembling a mouse nibbling on a piece of cheese.

The Doctor extended his hand to the nurse. "Thank you. One of us will be around until we hear news."

"I'll keep you informed the moment I hear anything," she assured before saying her goodbyes and leaving the room.

Once the nurse had left, he turned to Maggie. "Someone has to go check on Jack. Give me a call when you have some news." He started for the door but then stopped before turning to her again. "And please, develop some patience. You are, after all, in a hospital in 21st century Australia. Medicine does take a bit of time here."

"You didn't have to see what I saw. He almost died, you know," Maggie stated by way of explanation. "I don't have any family anymore. My work takes most of my time so I don't have many social friends." She looked down. "I know it sounds bizarre but... you all have changed that."

"No. Not bizarre at all," the Time Lord assured her. "Just very human. It's good to care just... try not to make life hard for the medical staff, all right? They're doing the best they can and... they're only human." He exited the room before popping his head around the corner. "And watch after Glad. Don't let her eat too many biscuits. Get her a proper meal maybe." With that, he disappeared from sight once again, leaving the two females alone in the hospital room.

"I'm sorry, Glad," Maggie told the young girl. "I guess I wasn't very nice. I keep forgetting this is all new to you."

"It's okay," Glad responded around a large bite of cookie. "I got a little freaked out, what with Sam hurt and us leaving Jack to finish up. Where I come from, people taking your blood for any reason is a bad thing. I guess I overreacted a bit."

"Still, I should have been more understanding." She noticed the cookies and tea were almost gone. "How are you feeling?"

"Bit tired. Could do with a nap," the girl admitted. She finished the cookies and lifted the tea to drink the last of it. She seemed to think for a moment. "Didn't the Doctor say something about getting me a proper meal?"

"Yes, he did." She considered their options. "I think we should stay at the hospital so I guess you're going to have a first. Cafeteria food."

"Is that like Italian food?" Glad questioned as Maggie helped her to her feet.

Maggie started to explain what a cafeteria was and what was typically served in them as they left the room, the building continuing to shake intermittently.


	16. Chapter 16

**Chapter 16**

The Master marched into the conference room where Lothos had summoned him to find that not only was it vacant of the Doctor and his companions but that it had been utterly destroyed with laser fire. "Where are they, Lothos? I thought you said you had them pinned down in the conference room."

"I did. However, the Doctor is apparently far cleverer than you give him credit. He was able to temporarily disrupt my abilities to track their movements."

The Master huffed at the hybrid being's explanation. "More likely you underestimated his abilities despite my warnings to you."

"No. I didn't underestimate him. He just found a weakness to take advantage of."

"He always does. Therefore, you underestimated him. And you blame me for letting them escape?"

"I'm not guilty of anything!" Lothos argued. "He lied."

The Time Lord huffed a laugh. "And you fell for it."

"You weren't there. You wouldn't understand."

"Typical _human_ response. 'It's not my fault. You can't blame me. You don't understand,'" the Gallifreyan mocked.

"I am _not_ a typical human!" Lothos bellowed. "At this point, I wash my hands of you, Time Lord. Everything you promised is nothing but dust. You'll be lucky to get out of this situation from what I've heard and seen."

"I gave you technology beyond humanity's abilities and this is how you repay me? Berating me for things I couldn't possibly control and leaving me practically nothing in return for everything I've given you?"

"You gave me everything? Really? Without my financing and the prestige you gained from the Prometheus Institute, you wouldn't even have one satellite in orbit right now."

"I didn't need you to do any of that. It would have taken a bit more work but I could have easily done it without your help," the Master countered. "Whereas I stabilized your neural matrix, I improved your search and lock program and your leaping program, I gave you more security in your complex and you wasted it by your complete and utter lack of vigilance. You wash your hands of me?" He gave a huff of a laugh. "Fine! I don't need you anyway. But you still need me. You're as stuck as I am."

"That's where you're wrong, _Master_ ," Lothos said with complete and utter distain in his voice. "I'm not corporeal, remember? As long as I have an electronic path out of here, I can go anywhere I want. Like to see you try that little trick."

"And where would you go, HAL? Can't imagine a PC is a fun place to spend the rest of your non-corporeal existence. Then again... you'd get to play TETRIS every day for the rest of eternity. Or at least until just before the human race stops using basic electricity for their power."

"Oh... you think I haven't prepared. Your mistake." Suddenly, there was a brightening at the node where Lothos was speaking that then moved along different pathway from the destroyed conduit. "As I have said, you used my resources to your advantage and it is now blatantly obvious that you are quite inept in bringing your plans to fruition. I have done some calculations and based on a number of factors, I have concluded that it will take you 2.357 years to successfully bring down the biofield and thus make your own escape. I have also calculated your food resources to being less than six months if you don't resort to eating your servants. There is no way that you will leave building alive without my assistance. Therefore... Goodbye, Time Lord. Enjoy the next few months of your life." The light brightened another moment and then the light was gone, completely and absolutely.

"Oh, no you don't!" the Master shouted at the ceiling. "Come back here right now!" There was no answer to his order. "You can't leave me!" Again, not gaining a response, he tried one last tactic. "You're losing valuable resources. What about your human servants, all this technology? Lothos!" Realizing that the entity had indeed left for good, abandoning him in a multi-floor prison with only a handful of incompetent humans as his companions, he screamed and punched a wall, denting it. Pain shot up his arm as he did so, causing him to pause to assess his physical condition. No broken bones, but his hand was definitely sprained.

Suddenly, there was a commotion out in the hallway, the sound of men shouting and someone being physically hurt. The Gallifreyan moved his injured hand for a moment before exhaling in frustration at what had just happened. Turning to go down the hall, he went to investigate what had caused the ruckus. His eyelids lowered as he saw a tall well-built man on his knees, guards holding him in place. "It's about bloody time!" he shouted at the guards.

"Been looking for me, Saxon?" Jack taunted.

The Galllifreyan marched up to him and back-handed him hard across the face. "Where's the Doctor?" he demanded angrily.

"Oh... I expect somewhere in Melbourne. He hasn't eaten much today. Probably decided to stop by a pub and get some chips. That's my guess anyway."

The Master struck him again. "Where is he?" he shouted, his anger quickly turning into fury.

"I told you. I don't know for certain." The immortal man lifted an eyebrow. "You mean to tell me you can't find him with that great Pi Network you've been building. Sounds like a major design glitch to me."

"The Doctor doesn't carry human technology. Certainly not a laptop, netbook or mobile," came the growled reply. Seeing the gleam in the impossible man's eyes, he paused. "Or does he? What is he carrying?"

"Considering what I've seen him pull out of his coat, any number of things. Sonic screwdriver, a deck of cards, jelly babies... definitely jelly babies."

Again, the Master hit him. "You may not be able to die, _freak_ , but you sure as hell can scream. And I'm going to make you do just that until I get the answers I want. And if you don't... well, at least I won't have to worry about starving to death."

Jack's eyebrows rose once more. "What... you're going to eat me? Sound kinky. I like that."

The Time Lord lowered his eyes. "Your attempts at bawdy humor are not going to help you. Your cooperation will. Tell me where the Doctor is. He can't get off this property anymore than you or I can. So, if you help me, you're also helping the Doctor, your little girlfriend, and yourself. Where is he?"

"I told you. Probably holed up in a pub. Weren't you listening?"

The Master sighed slowly, obviously tired of hearing what he believed to be obvious lies. He held out his hand to a guard. "Gun," he ordered. Obtaining the demanded item, he aimed the weapon at Jack. "It's really got to hurt, taking a bullet and not being able to die from it. At least, not being able to stay dead. Now, I'm only going to ask this one more time and I want the truth. Where is the Doctor?"

As the Master made the demand, the guards moved away from the immortal man, not wanting to be accidentally hurt from the gunshot they could already tell was coming. Jack knew the time had come. The Master was right; this was going to hurt. "You're playing this game like it's chess, thinking that I'm just another one of the Doctor's pawns. What you don't realize," he said putting both hands in his pockets, "is that we weren't playing chess... we were playing checkers." He pulled his hands out of the pockets of his long WWII style coat and revealed two colored rocks, one in each hand. As he moved to put his hands together, he grinned broadly. "So king me!"

It took less than a second for the Master's Time Lord mind to piece all of the puzzles together upon seeing objects in Jack's hands, instantly recognizing the Black Eye as well as the Eye that had been imbedded in the girl's pendant. He also noticed that the "freak" was wearing the pendant around his neck. He speculated that the pendant may actually be some sort of personal protective shield. With the Eyes being polar opposites... well, when matter and anti-matter, or rather universe and anti-universe, collide...

" _No!_ " the Master screamed, quickly reacting to what he knew was about to happen. His Time Lord reflexes being ten times faster than that of a human's, he dropped the gun that was in his hand and reached out with his other. Grabbing the pendant that hung around Jack's neck, he pulled it off quickly seconds before Jack could finish his actions.

Jack was surprised by the Gallifreyan's actions but the momentum of his hands was now unstoppable. The two polar opposites met and the world around them ceased to exist.

The work that the Doctor had done to the field had done its job. He'd changed the biofield into an improvised force field by reversing the biofield and then adding coding to force it into a shell strong enough to hold back the force of what would essentially be an explosion greater than a supernova. The alterations prevented the explosion from going beyond its boundaries while, at the same time, feeding the field that now didn't have a generator to do the task. The field hit maximum saturation levels and, having nowhere else to go, the explosive force imploded rapidly. The resulting resonance was absorbed by the unique field, the boiling mass of energy slowly bleeding as vibration into the surrounding bedrock creating an earthquake. The fact that the Doctor has ingeniously coded the field to convert dangerous radioactivity to a more benign form and to feed a steady energy into the earth meant that what would have been a violent earthquake ended up being a significant tremor felt throughout the city. The remaining energy that hadn't affected the city moved through the entire country, causing minor tremors. Once all the energy was gone, the shell dissipated as well, allowing rain to fall into the chasm, causing the entire area to cool slowly while creating huge columns of steam. The only sign of life was along a broken ridge halfway up the chasm. There, clinging to life and protected from the maelstrom and the collecting water by Galadriel's pendant, lay the body of the Master.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

Peri urged the cab driver to continue his journey against the flow of traffic and people leaving the area where she had last seen Harry. She'd been able to flag down the cab from the other side of the city, her mind still racing as she thought about how her husband had sent her away despite her protests. _Oh, that man!_ she complained mentally. _That infuriating, wonderful man._ She had to admit that the Master's act of sending her away for her own safety was incredibly romantic, something that didn't often come from her soul mate. That didn't, however, tame the anger she felt at not being able to go back using the teleport bracelet that was still around her wrist. All through the cab ride, she'd been fiddling with the device - even asking for a paperclip from the driver - in the hopes of reversing the settings and going back to her lord and Master.

During the trip through Melbourne, she couldn't help but wish that the driver would stop talking about the weather. So what if there was a storm coming? It wasn't as if a little rain was going to hurt anyone. Okay, so it was a little more than just a little rain, according to the forecast. Rain was rain and talking about it did nothing to help her adjust the bracelet which was starting to drive Peri bonkers. She had to figure out how to get it to work. She had already figured out several of the key components, like DNA recognition, but Harry had locked the teleport with his sonic, preventing her from resetting it.

She was still fighting with the bracelet when the earthquakes occurred, forcing the cabbie to stop. It was only at her insistence, and the offer of a substantial tip, that convinced the cabbie to continue despite the continually shaking earth. She'd even convinced him to find a way around the barricades that the police were setting up. When she'd finally stepped out of the cab at her destination, she stared at the utter devastation before her. "Oh, my gawd! It's gone!" she cried in astonishment. She hurried to the edge of the hole. " _Harry!_ " she screamed. She looked for a way to get into the hole, hoping against hope he had survived. Nothing remained of the building... and she could feel the heat from the seeming infinite crater. "No one could survive this," she whispered.

The cab driver looked absolutely terrified. "Come on, lady, back in the cab. We're getting out of here." He noticed that no people remained in the vicinity. It was like a ghost town around what he'd known had been the Prometheus Institute.

She looked up at him with annoyance on her face. "I'm not leaving. I need to stay here."

The driver shook his head in disbelief but nonetheless allowed her to stay - after all, it was up to her if she wanted to get killed. Doing a U-turn, he headed the way he had come, not bothering to collect his fare.

As she watched, a bolt of lightning crossed the sky, the slow rain that had been her companion across Melborne now morphed into the storm that had been threatening all day, almost as if in concert to the horrid events that had just taken place. Large water droplets collided with the walls of the crater, sizzling to steam. At the edge of the hole, however, Peri found herself in the middle of a deluge and understood immediately that she needed to seek shelter. While she was looking around for some place, she felt a rough hand take her shoulder as if to pull her from her musing.

"Hey, Miss. This area's under evacuation orders. You have to leave," a police officer instructed.

"I can't. I must stay..."

"Sorry. Mandatory evacuation. You can either leave peacefully or we take you down to the station. Your choice."

Realizing that there was little she could do at the moment, she nodded. "I'll leave."

The policeman called over another officer to escort her from the area. She obeyed his entreats, though with obvious reluctance. Her one hope was that her extraordinary husband somehow had beaten the odds and was alive. She couldn't give up. This was Harry Saxon, after all.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

Having stepped out of the hospital, his hands tucked in his trouser pockets, the Doctor looked around, wondering exactly how to accomplish what needed to be done, namely going back to the Prometheus Institute to retrieve Jack. A heavy rain had started and the sky was full of lightning. He could already imagine the ex-Time Agent at the bottom of the deep hole which was all that remained of that building, either unconscious at the bottom or waiting for the environment to cool off enough for him to try to find a way up to ground level through the collecting water, all the while wondering why he wasn't getting any help. Twelve floors... or more... was quite a distance to traverse without a stairwell, the Time Lord had to admit and, with that in mind, he searched his pockets for appropriate currency. Finding twenty Australian Dollars - as well as a couple of Egyptian coins and a credit bar which he knew was full but completely useless on 21st century Earth - he flagged down a taxi and had the driver take him back to Maggie's house, shaking off the water as he entered the vehicle. Once there, he tossed the twenty dollar bill to the driver, unknowingly giving him a large tip, before running up to the house through the rain. Pulling out his sonic, he opened the front door and stepped in, making sure that he locked the door behind him out of courtesy to his new friend.

"Hello, old girl," he greeted the TARDIS with a bright grin. Going over to the time ship, he took out his key and slipped in. Moving to the control console, he inputted the necessary coordinates to arrive in the depths of the remains of the P.I. building and sent the ship into the vortex, making a short leap through space and time, going several hours into the future. Having materialized in a pool of water at least a foot deep, he reset the controls to move the time ship out of the water that had collected at the site of the explosion.

Checking to be sure they were on solid ground, he tossed off his long coat before stepping out of the TARDIS and into a world of still cooling hell. Areas of steam rose around him like demon spirits, flowing through the air. He calculated that, had he arrived right after the explosion, he would have seen his last regeneration. Even if he'd arrived a few hours ago, the heat and steam would have pulled the flesh off his frame. As it was currently, the temperatures at the bottom of the chasm was nearly unbearable, even for his Time Lord biology, and he found himself perspiring heavily. The heat itched at his eyes, making it difficult for him to see even a foot in front of him. "Jack?" he called out, hoping that the pendant was protecting the immortal man from the heat which no human would be able to bear under normal circumstances.

At that moment, the Gallifreyan was immediately aware that something was very, very wrong. Jack Harkness was a single fixed point in time. As such, the Doctor could, when close enough, feel his presence. Almost like having an itch you can't scratch because it's actually on your bone. Only this itch was coming from everywhere... literally. A moment later, the reason hit him. "Oh, Jack," he said with sorrow. Somehow, the pendant hadn't protected his friend. He swallowed tightly. If he was wrong about the pendant's protective properties, then, as much as he hated that Jack had once more been blown literally to subatomic particles, it was good the immortal man had performed the deed that had been necessary. Had he gone with his first plan - to be the one to destroy the Black Eye - it was certain he would be the one that existed only in those minuscule particles. Unlike Jack, a Time Lord wouldn't be able to... well... pull their life back together. He'd be dead... permanently. The mist seemed to wrap around him like a cloak as he considered that.

Another disturbing thought crossed his consciousness. He wasn't sure if it was a ghost feeling or real though. Looking around the destruction surrounding him, he took a breath. "No way. The Master had to have been destroyed. He was at ground zero and there's nothing left," he reasoned to himself out loud as if that would be enough to banish his doubt. Of course, that nagging feeling was what fed that doubt. The feeling that he wasn't the last Time Lord left. He'd felt the same feeling once before - shortly after his regeneration into his ninth life - and dismissed it out of hand. Could he do that now?

Looking around once more at the water soaked crater, he shook his head. "No. There's no way. I'm just being paranoid." He considered that. "Never been paranoid before. Guess there's always a first time." Then he shrugged off the feeling as he made his decision. He'd have to wait for Jack reassemble, not unlike that movie... what was it called? Starred the Governor of some western state in North America. Well... he wasn't the Governor when he did the movie... and that character hadn't been the one to reassemble. It was the other one... that silvery metallic person. Well... the character had been silvery metallic, not the actor.

Realizing that it would be at least several hours, if not days, before Jack would even be able to start to reconstitute - the temperatures were too extreme for humans to survive in that environment - and that it was too hot for him to stay out for much longer, he opened the door of the TARDIS and retreated within, grateful for the cool air that hit him. Sitting in the Captain's chair, he sat vigil inside his ship deep inside the hole in the middle of Melbourne. The one thing that gave him hope was that he felt Jack's life force which meant his friend still existed. They'd destroyed the Master before the Pi Network had been launched. Time had not repeated itself.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

 _Four hours seventeen minutes after the Doctor left the hospital_

Sam blinked open his eyes, seeing the curtains and equipment that screamed one thing to him. Intensive Care Unit. He hated hospitals... had ever since he'd been halfway through his residency as an intern back at Massachusetts General. As much as he knew the doctors, nurses, and other health care workers truly cared about their patients, all the drama that marked the day to day operations simply wasn't his cup of tea. Of course, in hindsight, it was clearly less drama than what he eventually experienced when he'd stepped into the accelerator. No matter. What was important was... had they stopped the Master or was the world about to go sideways again?

"Ah. Dr. Tyler. You're awake I see. Feeling better?" a nurse asked, pulling the curtain slightly aside.

"Doctor? Um..." Sam started before once more realizing whose aura he was currently residing in and remembering the name he'd taken on during the mission. "Yes. I think. What happened?"

"Your sister brought you in with a severe gunshot wound," the nurse informed him gently. "Do you remember anything about that?"

"Gunshot..." He remembered running out of the building, the man shouting at them, feeling the pain searing through his arm right before he and Margaret had witnessed the man's death. Even though he knew this had been one of the Master's minions, it still was a loss of life and something that Sam never took lightly. "I do remember that." He swallowed. "It was outside the Prometheus Institute."

The woman turned to look at him with interest, not having heard that bit of information before. "You are a very lucky lady, Dr. Tyler. If you had been there an hour or so longer, you might not have gotten out of there at all. Those poor people..."

"What happened?" Sam needed to know. He knew what the plan had been or at least what the last plan had been... the Doctor seemed to change on the fly as the situation warranted. He grinned almost unperceptively. Not unlike what he often had to do.

"Some sort of explosion. From what I'd heard, it was big enough to destroy not only the whole building but to make one hell of a crater and caused several tremors all through Melbourne. All through Australia, if that's to be believed. We still get an occasional one but they've calmed down a lot. Now that you're awake, I'm sure that the police will want to talk to you, find out who it was that shot you."

Sam merely nodded, hoping the Doctor would spring him long before that would occur. "My... sister. Is she still here?"

"I don't know. I can find out if you want," the nurse told him gently. "In the meantime, do you feel up to eating something? The doctor wants you to at least have a bowl of soup to help your blood count rise."

"Probably watery chicken noodle soup... with those little squares of chicken, right?"

"Actually, I think it's watery beef vegetable," she replied with a knowing grin.

"Sounds lovely," Sam said sarcastically before sighing. "I suppose it's for the best."

The nurse gave a little laugh. "I'll go get you a bowl and send in your sister if I can find her. Anything else I can get for you while I'm away?"

"A glass of water would be nice. Not too much ice."

"I'll just fill your pitcher up then," she stated as she walked around the bed and took the large plastic object that looked like a mixture of a pitcher and a sports bottle. "I'll be back in a few." With that, she left the room.

Sam lay back with his eyes closed to await the soup, water, and if luck was with him, his friend. He still felt tired from the injury and knew rest could only help.

"You look like hell," came a familiar and gravelly voice from the left side of the bed.

At the sound of his best friend's voice, Sam's head snapped up. "Al! You're back. I wasn't sure I'd ever see you again!"

Al looked at him with a frown. "Me? You're the one that went and got yourself shot by that nut! What the hell did you think you were doing, Sam? Do you know what I've been through for the last five hours, wondering if you'd make it?"

"Saving the universe has its costs, Al," Sam answered wearily. "You think I'll leap now?"

"I don't know. Ziggy still won't bring up any predictions on that. Keeps saying that the Doctor is an unpredictable anomaly. Can't say that I disagree with her there. I'm just glad you're alive, Sam. You really scared me back there."

"So no more Pi Network in your time?" Sam asked.

"Pi Network?" the Admiral questioned with a frown. "Oh, that freaky deaky satellite thing that Harold Saxon tried to do." He raised the handlink to look at what Ziggy had to say on the matter. "Saxon never got all those satellites up and the ones he did were deactivated by UNIT shortly after he disappeared. Saxon was presumed dead but his body was never found... no surprise there with that explosion. The details, though, were classified ultra top secret... and Jack won't let me have access to the information."

The leaper smiled. "So, he's okay then. That's good."

"Why wouldn't he be?" came the querulous response.

"Um... well..." Sam started, not sure how to answer the question.

"Can anyone join your one sided conversation?" Maggie's voice interrupted from the doorway.

Almost immediately, she was interrupted as Glad hurried past her to Sam's bed and wrapped her arms around him. "You're okay!"

Sam was taken by surprise by the action but wasn't unhappy to see either of them. "It's good to see you, Maggie... thanks." He then looked at Glad. "You too, but watch the tubing. I don't want to have them have to find another vein."

"Yeah, and I'd ease off on the pressure you're putting on that shoulder too," Al commented.

Even as he spoke, Maggie was responding to Sam's words. "You rescued my neck. Figured it's fair turnabout to do the same for you," she told him as she moved over to the bed. "By the way, in case you didn't know, I'm your sister and Glad here is your niece."

"It was the only way they'd let us see you," the girl told him in a near whisper.

"I sort of figured about Maggie based on what the nurse said. Having you here's just an added treat." He paused. "Where's the Doctor?"

"He said he was going to check on Jack but that was hours ago. Haven't heard from him since he left just after we convince Glad to donate some blood."

"The girl saved your life, Sam," Al added, his voice somber. "You'd lost a lot of blood and they didn't have enough in stock."

"Really? She did?" He looked over to Glad with gratitude knowing that even though she'd been learning a lot, such a procedure would have been scary to a person from her time. "You must have been scared... when they told you what I needed."

She tucked her head into her chest. "I wasn't scared," she lied in a small voice.

"Poor kid was terrified you'd become a monster," Maggie contradicted gently, giving Glad a reassuring hug.

"Well, I'm still me, Glad. I wouldn't be if you had refused."

The girl gave Maggie a glare at telling Sam how she really had felt at the time before turning to the leaper and giving him a slightly less callous eye. "I didn't think that the entire time, you know. Not after the Doctor explained everything. Maggie just kept pushing me to go without explaining anything... what else was I supposed to think? In my time, only demons and monsters took someone's blood."

"She thought you were a vampire?" Al questioned with amusement.

"Been there, done that, Al," Sam said giving his friend a pointed look.

"Al's here?" Glad asked, surprise in her voice.

"Isn't that your imaginary friend?" came Maggie's query.

"Yeah. Al's here," Sam said with a grin that turned almost immediately into a yawn.

Even as the yawn escaped his lips, the door opened once again and the nurse came up to the bed with a tray in her hands. "Here you go," she said cheerily, putting the tray on the side table. "Let's just get you in a better position," she told the leaper as she adjusted the controls on the bed so that Sam was sitting more upright before pulling the table around in front of him and rearranging everything so that it was within reaching distance.

"Oh, lovely," Al commented. "Hospital food."

"My thoughts exactly," Sam replied.

"That's the spirit," the nurse replied with a grin. "Need anything else, darling?"

The leaper yawned again as he blinked at the soup. "No... getting this down will be quite enough."

"And she's back to being a grumpy gus," the medical professional commented with a slight chuckle. "I'll leave you to it, then. Just let me know if you need anything." Turning to the adult visitor, she gently reminded, "Just a few more minutes and then I'm going to have to ask you both to leave to allow your sister to rest."

Sam had started to dip his spoon in the soup, stirring it. "I sure would rather have some of Mom's chicken soup." He took a bite. "Bland and salty...and the vegetables are like little sponges."

Glad dipped a finger in the soup and tasted it for herself. "I like it."

"You would," Sam stated, after swallowing the first bite.

"You're true to form, Sam," Al commented. When his friend looked up at him, the hologram continued. "Still keeping the stereotype of 'doctor's making the worst patients' alive."

The grin on Sam's face turned into a half smirk, half annoyed glare. "You're not the one in the hospital, Al."

"Doesn't mean I'm not right," came the counter-argument from the Italian.

"Says you," Sam answered as he continued to eat his soup, still in a funk.

"You know, you talking to your invisible friend out of context from our point of view is really very irritating, mate," Maggie complained slightly. Seeing the look of consternation on his face at her words, she sighed slightly, her concern for his well-being showing through. "You doing all right, though, yeah? Haven't heard much about your condition other than you're recovering nicely. But that doesn't mean jack until you hear it from a mate's mouth."

"I'm tired," Sam admitted. "Not that that's unexpected. Healing does that to you. Besides that, I'm not really feeling much pain since they're keeping that under control. Otherwise, this would hurt like hell," Sam said indicating his bandaged shoulder. "Outside of that, between the saline drip and the other liquids I'm supposed to consume, everything's fine." He rubbed his hand over his eyes. "But Al's right, I'm probably being grumpier than normal."

"Goes with the territory," the Australian woman assured him with a gentle smile.

Seeing that Sam wasn't really eating his soup as he should - more like picking at it because he was expected to eat it - Glad gently pulled the table away from him before taking his spoon and placing it on the table. "You need rest more than you need to eat something you don't like. I can finish it for you and the medicine woman won't even know you didn't eat it."

"Well, I can get mostly the same benefit from the water. Go to it, Glad. At least someone should enjoy it," Sam answered.

"And it should be you, not the young lady," the nurse instructed as she returned from her brief time away from the room.

Sam glanced over to his holographic friend. "Thanks for the warning," the leaper said with slight sarcasm.

"You're welcome," came the reply from Al, the nurse, Maggie, and Glad, all at the same time and with different intonations.

The nurse looked at his visitors with amusement. "I'm sorry, ladies, but visiting time is over for the night and she really does need her rest."

"But what if the Doctor comes back and we're not here to tell him Sam's okay?" Glad questioned with worry.

"I don't understand why Dr. Tyler's doctor would need to know about another patient named Sam but I'm afraid it's simply not hospital policy to allow you to stay in the hospital beyond the limited visiting times." She smiled. "You can come back tomorrow, though."

"It'll be okay, Glad," Maggie reassured the young lady. "I'm sure he'll find us if he needs us."

"He's been gone an awful long time," the girl worried as Maggie led her towards the door.

"Think you can center on him?" Sam asked his friend.

Al raised the handlink and pressed a few buttons. "With him being an alien, it should be fairly easy for Ziggy to get a lock on him. Not a lot of aliens on Earth, you know."

"It really is time for you to go," the nurse stated, confused by Sam's request and ushering Glad and Maggie out. "Obviously, she's more tired than I had believed."

"Good night, S... Sarah," Maggie called back to him, haltingly remembering the pseudonym they had given him when checking him into the hospital.

"Bye, Sam! See you tomorrow!" Glad said with a wave of her hand before stepping out as requested.

The nurse's face scrunched slightly. "Strange girl, your niece."

"It's just a nickname," Sam explained. "I used to read her a lot of Dr. Seuss."

Al laughed. "Good catch, Sam," he stated, looking up from the handlink which wasn't cooperating. "It shouldn't be this hard..." He shook his head. "You know, I think I'll just go back and see what's gotten into Ziggy's bonnet on this one. I mean, one alien amongst all these humans. They never had this kind of trouble on Star Trek." Opening the Imaging Chamber door, he stepped out, giving Sam an "I'll see you later" before vanishing behind a disappearing white light.

The nurse gave Sam an odd look at his comment about Dr. Seuss. "Strange family," she commented to herself as she removed the tray and dimmed the lights before exiting.

Left to himself once more, Sam let out a sigh. "Right now, I just wish someone would beam me up." He then used the hand controls to reset the bed to a sleeping position, deciding that for the moment sleep was the only thing on his mind.

Within a few minutes the nurse checked back finding her patient fast asleep.


	17. Chapter 17

**Chapter 17**

It had been seventy-two hours since the Doctor had landed the TARDIS at the bottom of the chasm four days after the explosion. Having found the area uninhabitable for humans - and only barely habitable for Time Lords for a short period of time - he'd retired to the TARDIS to wait out the cooling of the chasm. He knew with the heat it would take longer for Jack to 'pull himself together' so to speak, but he didn't want to miss when that occurred, especially not after the last time. No, Jack would have someone with him this time as he made the painful journey back.

Realizing that his companions back at the hospital hadn't heard from him for several days, he had called Maggie to let her know what happening and was glad to hear that Sam was on the mend. The two stayed in occasional contact during the long hours of his vigil and thus he knew that the leaper was released from the hospital and allowed to convalesce at his "sister's" home, though he was rather verbal about having to give a completely fabricated statement to the police about how he was shot. He was doing his best to put it off as long as he could. Sam had even insisted on sending Al to check on him in person, for which the Doctor was grateful. Although he and Al didn't exactly see eye to eye, he enjoyed the companionship. It made the vigil more bearable.

Even with Al's frequent visits, the Time Lord had a lot of alone time to think about events both recent and not so recent. It only made sense that one of his major musings was of his relationship with the immortal man. He understood that, in some way, the two of them had developed a deep connection that transcended anything he'd ever experienced. The fact that Jack was a fixed point now had become less and less important to him. All that he knew was the terrible loss he'd felt during one of the shattered timelines was a feeling he never wanted to ever experience again. Thus, he waited, feeling Jack's life force and wondering when his friend would need him.

A blood curdling scream awoke the Doctor's light slumber, causing him to stand abruptly from the Captain's chair where he had kept vigil. The Gallifreyan understood instantly exactly who was screaming and why. "Oh, Jack," he murmured with heartfelt empathy. Immediately exiting the TARDIS, he found that the air had cooled greatly, though it was still extremely hot and humid. At least it was finally at a habitable temperature.

The sound of the scream that drew him from the time ship resonated against the walls of the crater, seeming to be continuous. The Doctor glanced around to find the whole area completely pitch black, making it almost impossible to tell from which direction the scream was coming. Closing his eyes for a moment and taking a deep breath, he focused on the tormented sound, isolating the general direction he needed to go before pulling out his sonic screwdriver and using it as a torch to help him find his way.

It was several agonizingly long minutes of going over mounts of rock and three foot deep pools of water - it was obvious with as much rain that had fallen that the cracks in the bedrock were allowing the water to shunt away - before he finally came across the grotesque sight of muscle and bone in a humanoid shape, with barely enough tissue to bring forth the horrifying cries. The Doctor's Time Lord instinct to get away from it as quickly as possible told him that it was his dear friend. Slowly lowering himself to sit beside him, the Doctor reached out and gently cupped his hand over Jack's own nearly skeletonized hand. "I'm here," he said reassuringly, hoping that the ex-Time Agent could hear him.

The still blind and mostly deaf immortal man responded with a mournful moan at once reiterating his pain but also his gratitude at the contact, even if it made the pain grow slightly. Over the next few hours he knew he'd continue to literally pull himself together and having his friend beside him was truly a comfort. Throughout the process, the alien man stayed with him, providing both verbal and physical evidence of his commitment to stay by Jack's side, though Jack knew it couldn't have been a pleasant thing to witness. It certainly wasn't a pleasant thing to endure.

Eventually Jack was actually able to articulate a thought instead of the screams and moans that accompanied his reintegration. His eyes lit on the only source of illumination - the sonic- as he tried to speak. His voice was gravelly from the hours before, but he had to tell the Doctor what he'd seen...and why he was in this state. "Mas...ter took pen...dant."

For a long moment, the Gallifreyan stared at Jack, an odd look in his eyes. His hearts flittered with a whole range of emotions. While a part of him was horrified of what Jack had to go through, he found himself hoping desperately that his next words were true. "He's alive?" If he stopped and focused his mind, he realized that he could answer his own question. Yes, he could feel him... a lone speck of light in his mind where all the Time Lords used to exist. Any human on the planet would think him mad for the small smile that graced his lips at the knowledge... the feeling... of his former friend's presence in that spot.

"Don't know," Jack pushed out. He finally had eyelids and after focusing on the Doctor's face for a long moment, he closed them, wanting only to sleep as he continued to become whole again, though the pain was making that difficult.

Seeing the torment that Jack was enduring and knowing that he could finally do something about it, the Time Lord brushed his still bald head - the hair was starting to grow back. "Would you be okay if I leave you for a few minutes?" he questioned gently.

There was fear in Jack's eyes, an emotion he seldom allowed to show. "You want... to leave me?"

"No, I don't," the Time Lord assured him. "But you need to be cared for and I can't do that very well in a dark, hot, damp cavern. I want to bring the TARDIS closer and bring you in with a gurney. Once inside, you can lay comfortably in the infirmary."

The fear left his eyes and instead, his flippant personality came through even with the words hard to say. "Promise me good painkillers and you have a deal."

"Painkillers, a wash-up, fresh clothes... best hotel in the universe," the Gallifreyan told him, grateful to hear Jack's unique personality coming through despite the situation. "I'll be back as soon as possible." Slipping his sonic into the immortal man's hand, he gave him a gentle smile. "Keep an eye on my sonic for me while I'm gone."

"Always wanted one," Jack responded, gaining a little laugh from the Doctor before he made his way back to the TARDIS in the dark, using his connection with the time ship to find it.

It was a good ten minutes before the sounds of the TARDIS materializing touched Jack's ears. A couple of minutes later, the Doctor was kneeling beside him. He touched the immortal man gently to assure him of his presence. "See? No time at all. And I brought transportation."

Jack's eyes open and gratefulness filled them. "You're a good friend. Best I've ever had."

The Time Lord just gave him another winning grin before carefully and meticulously transferring him onto the gravity gurney. Activating the device so that it was floating at arm's level, he then pushed the gurney into the TARDIS which opened its door wide as they approached, bypassing the console room entirely and leading immediately to the infirmary.

The Time Lord gaped in amazement as they crossed the threshold. "She's never done that before," he commented as he guided Jack to a bed and transferred him onto it.

"Don't you know? We have a thing going, the TARDIS and me," Jack quipped back weakly, the energy in staying conscious almost too much for him.

"That's the last thing I need, you and the TARDIS having an affair," came the response. Without waiting to see if Jack was actually comfortable in his position, the Doctor immediately moved around the medbay, collecting anything and everything that he needed to tend to his friend, including a pan filled with mildly soapy water and a sponge. "Don't get any ideas. This is only because you really need a good cleaning."

"That's what all the good nurses say," Jack answered, his words slurring slightly as he fought sleep.

The Doctor gave him a slight grin, cleaning his arm gently to make sure that it was sanitized enough for his next step, namely starting the irascible human on an IV. The moment that he'd had saline dripping into his friend, he immediately injected a dose of morphine, knowing that it would not only ease the pain but also allow Jack to slip into the well-deserved sleep he was fighting. Once that was done, he finished cleaning him from head to toe with clinical detachment as Jack watched him, his eyes lazy with the medication. Then, retrieving a soft cotton blanket, he carefully draped it over his form before turning to retrieve a chair.

"Why?" Jack asked quietly as the Doctor returned to sit beside his healing friend.

"Easier to keep an eye on you if I'm sitting nearby."

"No. Why did you stay with me this time?" The immortal man's eyes searched the Doctor's as best he could.

The Time Lord hesitated in his response. "Does it matter?"

"Yes. I know how you feel about me. It had to be distasteful. So... why?"

There was a long pause before the Doctor spoke again. "Because... you deserve better. The first time... in the Outback... well... it was like..." He took an uncomfortable breath, trying to find the right words to express his feelings on the matter. "Like eating a pear tart."

"A pair of tarts... sounds nice," Jack quipped. "Didn't know you had it in you."

"Is everything sexual with you?" replied the Gallifreyan indignantly. He rolled his eyes. "Sorry. Forgot who I was talking to."

"There you go," the human answered, the morphine drip continuing to work on his system.

"Not a pair of tarts, though that is almost as distasteful. No. Pear tart," the Time Lord corrected. "It's... well..."

"You don't like pears," Jack finished, inferring from the Doctor's response the meaning.

"I hate them. Not exactly sure why but every time I bite into a pear I just want to spit it out. They're rubbish."

"Nice to know where I stand," Jack responded. "Why the change? Pity?"

"No," he contradicted. "This time it's more like... apple pear tarts. I love apples. And as long as I can taste apples, I can forget that there's pears in there as well."

Jack didn't say anything for a long moment, causing the Doctor to figure his friend had finally slipped into slumber. Thus he was surprised to hear a quiet, "Thank you. That means a lot to me."

The Time Lord gave a small smile at the response. "You may be impossible, Jack, but you're still my friend. Always will be. Well... unless you continue having affairs with my ship."

Jack's eye's opened slightly and a small grin captured his face. "Well, you do know apples have always represented the forbidden fruit..."

The Doctor chuckled slightly. "Go to sleep," he ordered.

The immortal man complied, knowing that the chasm between them that Rose had inadvertently caused by her actions, if not fully healed, was at least more of a crack than a gap.

"Now, that... that is truly... yuck!"

Turning to see who had spoken, the Doctor raised an eyebrow at the sight of Albert Calavicci. "How long have you been there?"

"Long enough to know you hate pears unless they're with apples and somehow Jack's okay with that even though he thought your change of taste buds was due to pity. I don't even want to know about the affair he's having with your ship. That's weird, even for Jack," Al answered, having centered on the Doctor a few minutes before.

The Time Lord couldn't help but chuckle slightly at the Italian's words. "Oh, I don't know. I've heard stranger." Glancing over at the Time Agent, who was obviously deep in the arms of Morpheus, he slowly exited the infirmary, not wanting to be too far from him but also needing privacy to talk to the hologram without disturbing his patient. "Something on your mind, Albert?"

"You know we've all been worried about you and Jack." He looked into the infirmary past the Doctor's shoulder. There was some trepidation in his voice. "How is Jack? I mean, I've seen men with third degree burns over less of their body who, even if they survived, weren't the same. I know you're a medical doctor but..."

"I'm a doctor of everything," the Gallifreyan corrected with a small smile.

"I meant like Sam. Medicine's just one of his areas like it is for you. I'm calling on that specialty now. Is Jack going to... be okay?"

"Oh, yeah!" came the confident response.

"Well, I know he's going to be all right physically. You can't see any physical scars on Jack – I mean the Jack in this time - although I don't see how. I'd love to see whatever it is you use for that kind of healing response."

The Doctor looked at him, surprise clear on his face. "You don't know," he finally surmised after a brief pause.

"Of course, I don't know. I figure it must be some alien or future treatment. Certainly nothing we can do here on Earth in the 21st century can help a burn victim like that."

The Time Lord scratched his sideburn with his index finger, obviously uncomfortable. "Well... it certainly happened in the future. Or rather the past, depending on your perspective. And he isn't exactly burned..."

"Not burned? How'd he lose all that skin then?" Al questioned.

The alien hesitated in his answer for a moment. "It's complicated. Very complicated. Doesn't matter at the moment, though, since, like I said, he'll be fine in a few hours and that's the important part, isn't it. And now that you've seen that both Jack and I are fine, you can go back to Sam and reassure him that everything is okay."

"Yeah. I'll do that in a minute." He paused, quiet for a moment. "There is something more I want to talk to you about."

Turning to the hologram, the Doctor tucked his hands into his pocket, interest showing on his face. "What is it?"

Al looked down at first extremely interested in his gold shoes. "I'm really not sure how to begin this. I know something's happened though. I've felt these time shifts before. Usually Ziggy is good about filling me in but this time... nada, zilch, zip. I think Jack had something to do with that but he's not talking either, I mean the Jack in my time. At least, not about what happened with this leap." He paused seeing the Doctor getting antsy as he beat around the proverbial bush. "Anyway, my gut tells me it was something big. Bigger than the Dragon thing. Like mega universe changing, life-threatening big. I know I wasn't very nice to you at the beginning of the leap and haven't been the best all the time since then but I want you to know..." His head came up and he looked the Doctor in the eyes. "I'm glad this happened. Sam leaping into your life, I mean. I have the feeling I wouldn't have liked the original history this time shift changed very much... and well..."

"Albert... are you trying to tell me you really don't think I'm a dangerous alien presence that should be kept from interfering with Earth and its problems?"

"I never said that," Al defended. The handlink chirped. "Well, I never said it that way..."

"So, you don't think that I'm a nozzle, jerk, joker, buffoon, bozo, clown, conman..."

The apparently older man looked chagrined. "You remember that, huh."

"I'm a Time Lord. Eidetic memory."

"Like Sam. Well, like Sam before he leapt... now he can't remember shit. Well, most times anyways. This leap's been different. Sort of like old times."

The Gallifreyan looked at him with sympathy. "You miss him very much."

"Yeah. I do. He's my best friend. Has been for years. Wouldn't even have the life I have now without him. I can remember when my wife wasn't waiting for me when I got back from Vietnam. Thanks to Sam, that no longer happened." He paused. "But whatever happened after you all left Peru... I have a feeling that it would have been more than Sam could have done on his own. Even with my help and even Jack's, we would have failed."

The Doctor tilted his head slightly. "It was a team effort. I know I couldn't have done it without your help, you and Sam. And Jack. And Maggie. And Glad." He paused, a haunted look on his face. "I... I wouldn't have been strong enough to do it."

"From what I've gathered from what you've said, I thought that Time Lords were able to do almost anything...the Knights Templar of the Universe or something like that. That humans were more likely to be a hindrance than anything else."

"Now, I never said that," the Doctor countered to the last statement.

"Well, I can't remember exactly what you said. I don't have that superglue type memory. I just know that's how it's felt. That you think we're like children that keep running out into oncoming traffic and have to be protected from every little thing that comes along. You may not have said that exactly, but that's my take on it."

"Nah," came the denial. "You're brilliant, the lot of you. Sam and you are perfect examples. If Sam hadn't leapt into Rose, I wouldn't have traveled to Egypt with him, wouldn't have left him there and gotten sidetracked to medieval England on the way back, wouldn't have found Glad there, and wouldn't have met Merlin who wouldn't have given Glad her pendant. We certainly wouldn't have prevented Alistair's death, for which I am most grateful - thank you very much - and thus wouldn't have learned about the Prometheus Institute, Harold Saxon, and the Pi Network. Not to mention that meeting Glad, thanks to Sam traveling with me, allowed us to get a glimpse of the future that would have been if we hadn't acted to prevent it."

"Pi Network? That system that UNIT dismantled? And what does the Prometheus Institute have to do with anything? Didn't they blow themselves up about six months ago? From what I heard on the news, the Australian Government is still trying to piece that whole thing together."

"Albert... it is currently six months ago from your current time and Sam and I are here. You're brilliant. Put the puzzle pieces together."

"That's what this is all about? You caused that explosion?" He paused again. "Is that how Sam got shot? Something to do with the Prometheus Institute?" He gave the alien a glare, his eyes narrowing to a slit. "You got Sam shot! He could have been killed! You'd be willing to do that to get Rose Tyler back?"

"Oh, typical human reaction," the Doctor grumbled. "Something bad happens and it's automatically my fault even if I was nowhere near Sam at the time. Guess that answers my question."

Realizing that somehow the conversation had jumped the tracks again, the human's countenance softened as he sighed. "I'm sorry. I guess that's not fair. You wouldn't do that, I'm sure. Force of habit where Sam's concerned. I've been doing this too many years." His forehead crinkled. "You know, though. Someone else could be involved. I wonder if that Bartender's behind all this? After all, it has his fingerprints all over it."

It was clear that the Time Lord hadn't really paid attention to Al's latter speculations as the former continued with a frown. "You know, that is a very bad habit, Albert, postulating without all the facts. Conan Doyle would be ashamed of you. And thinking that I would put another person's life on the line to get someone back..." The Doctor stopped in his rant when he realized what Al had said. "Bartender?"

"Yeah. Strange guy. One of the few times Sam was himself on a leap."

"Does this have anything to do with that whole God Fate Time Whatever thing that Sam has been talking about?"

"We're not really sure. Sam's convinced that Bartender is the one who's leaping him although the nozzle apparently told him he's leaping himself but that doesn't make a whole lot of sense." Al had begun to use his hands for emphasis, his body language animating as he discussed that bizarre theory. "Sam wants to come home. If he was leaping himself he would have come home a long time ago. All I can say is very strange things happened during that leap." As he spoke, the Doctor's head tilted and Al hastened to explain. "We're really not sure who the guy really is. He just appeared to be a bartender. Then again..." he trailed of. Thinking of that strange leap always gave him a headache.

"Actually... it makes perfect sense," the Time Lord commented. He grimaced at the look on Al's face. "I mean, the whole thing about Sam leaping himself, not that a bartender told him."

"Didn't you hear me? If Sam were leaping Sam, he'd be home already. Instead he's been leaping for thirteen years!"

"The subconscious mind doesn't always match what the conscious mind is telling someone. Yes, I have no doubt that Sam wants to come home. I can see it in his eyes every time I look at him. The want is so strong, I can actually feel it coming off of him," the Doctor told him. "And I'll get him home. I will. But there must be a small subconscious part of him that wants to go on. That niggling sensation in the back of the head that says you can do more."

Al considered that. "Then it's a good thing you're bringing him home. If Sam's been doing this for thirteen years based on his goodness factor, it could be years before I finally get to retire."

"Oh, yes. Can't have him bouncing around in time, changing things that shouldn't be changed," the Time Lord told him bluntly.

Al shook his head. "That's not what I mean."

The Doctor looked at him for a long moment. "I'm glad you can see it, too. That Sam Beckett is too good for his own good." He gave a half of a grin. "Fortunately he's had you to keep his head on his shoulders. You can get yourself killed trying to save the universe every day. I should know. Happened to me more than once."

"You have no idea." Al took a breath. "But it worries me. I was a month away from my 61st birthday when Sam started leaping. I'll be seventy-five next birthday. What's going to happen if Sam keeps leaping? I can't live forever."

"Sam won't keep leaping. I'm bringing him home right after Jack recovers."

"Well, whatever you're doing to speed up Jack's healing process, keep doing it. The sooner the better." He gave a whimsical smile. "It'll be good to have Sam back. It's funny. When he was here, I wasn't the most comfortable with the ease he has with touching people, bear hugs and all. Now, I'd give anything for one. Even a pat on the shoulder."

"Comes with age. You get used to it," the Doctor commented. "Wasn't much of a hug person myself until I turned 985." He turned to walk towards the kitchen.

"985! You pulling my leg?" Al said as he followed along.

"Albert, you're a hologram. It is physically impossible for me to pull your leg," the Gallifreyan replied drily.

Al's eyes narrowed slightly but this time with a tight humorless grin that showed he understood he'd been bested in the banter. "You know what I mean." He paused. "985? You look younger than Sam. Why would you claim that? You have to come up with something believable."

"Actually, I'm 1138 years old. Blimey, I'm admitting my age to everyone lately," he muttered. "First Glad, then you..."

"One thousand one hundred thirty-eight..." Al said slowly. "You think that's believable?"

"Well... could be 1139... 1145... Give or take a century. Hard to keep track after so many years."

He looked over at the Doctor who was obviously being serious. He opened his mouth and closed it just as quickly. "That's simply not possible. Nobody lives that long. Next thing you're going to tell me, you're immortal."

"No, that's Jack."

"Now I know you're kidding me," Al answered, looking relieved. "You really had me going there, Doctor. You can't be much over thirty-five."

"I may look thirty-five but that's only because I regenerated to look this way." The Doctor grinned broadly. "That and I moisturize. So do you, apparently."

Al laughed. "Right. I use Beth's creams on a regular basis." He looked askance. "And if you believe that, I have some swamp land to show you in Louisiana."

"No, thanks. Already sold mine to Thomas Jefferson."

"Right," Al responded, obviously seeing this as yet another one of the Time Lord's tall tales. "You know? You're all right, Doctor. A bit strange sometimes, but you're all right."


	18. Chapter 18

**Chapter 18**

From the time of the explosion and through the week following, Peri Langford came to the chasm's edge each day, peering despondently into it and hoping that somehow her beloved had survived. Even when the Australian authorities continued to force her to leave, declaring the area a disaster zone, she nonetheless found her way through the barriers, once even having been arrested for refusing to leave, though she was soon released from custody.

Why she came day by day she couldn't say. After all, if Harry had been caught in the explosion, would it even be possible for a Time Lord to survive it? And she and the Master were telepathically bonded together in Gallifreyan marriage. She would know for sure if he were dead, wouldn't she?

The rains that had begun that fateful day had finally stopped and the crater had cooled significantly. Now looking into it, she felt an electricity flow through her spine as she saw what she had least expected but most wanted to see... her Harry was alive. Alive... but... clawing for a handhold along the slippery wall of the crater from one of the ledges left in the jagged hole. It was plainly clear even from four stories above him that he'd been struggling to pull his way out of the hell he'd somehow survived.

She almost rushed to him, but realized that it would be shear suicide to do so. Instead, she cursed the bracelet she was wearing, hitting it with force. Immediately it reset. "That's all?" she questioned for a second, surprised at how easy it was to get the bracelet back into working order. Quickly entering the code to recognize his Gallifreyan life force, she hit the activation switch. Almost within the blink of an eye, she found herself at his side, sharing the ledge with him. He had lost consciousness, clearly exhausted from his climb to this point. She was glad that he was still dressed in what was left of the suit he'd worn into the office that morning. It gave her something to hold onto to keep him from rolling off the ledge and falling down to water that filled the bottom of the pit. He was so still and she wasn't sure that he would regenerate.

"Harry," she called out, pulling him against the wall before using her hands to push muddy hair from his eyes. He looked so innocent and kind this way but she longed to see his intelligent eyes gazing into hers again. "Harry, please wake up." When he didn't move, she swallowed tightly, tears welling in her eyes. "Please, Harry. I love you. I can't bear to think of living another day without being by your side."

A small whimper came from the still form beside her, the kind face scrunching slightly to accompany the whimper.

"Harry! Oh gawd! I thought you were dead." She kissed his face. "I've got to get you out of here."

"Peri?" came the whispered response to her joy. "Peri, is that you?" The Master's eyes slowly opened as he turned his head. "I can't see."

"It's dark here, that's all."

He shook his head slowly and then grimaced at the agony the action brought him. "No. I can't see. I'm blind and... everything hurts. Help me up," he ordered, a slight terror running through his voice. As he moved, a moan of pain exited his throat unbidden.

"Is it happening? The thing you said would happen if you were mortally injured," she asked, fearing that her initial joy at finding him alive would be crushed.

Slowly sitting up with Peri's help, he took a deep breath. "No. I'm not regenerating. Well... I suppose that's one good thing. Maybe." He sucked in air through his teeth as another wave of pain went through him. "Regeneration doesn't hurt this much."

Peri licked at her lips. "Harry, we need to get you somewhere to treat you. Your vision..."

"My vision isn't the worst of my concerns right now. I think I may have broken something... or a few somethings...and my chest feels like it's on fire." He gave a weak laugh that held no humor. "I don't think getting out of here is much of an option in my condition." He paused. "Wait. How did you get here?"

"The bracelet, Harry. You gave me the bracelet, remember?"

"The bracelet. Of course," he said, a smile starting but turning quickly into a grimace. As the pain subsided, the frown didn't vanish however. "But I locked it so you couldn't come back to me. For your own safety... How?"

"Yes. And that was terrible, Harry. I so wanted to be with you."

"You wouldn't have survived this, Peri."

"I know. I didn't believe you would survive either, my love. I didn't want to live without you."

"You would have avenged me," he told her softly, his weight against the wall.

"Yes. But what then? Life would be empty with only your memories to sustain me."

"You do love me, don't you?" he asked with kindness.

"Yes." She kissed him. As she pulled away, she spoke. "But in answer to your question, I finally figured out how it worked and when I hit it..."

"You hit a delicate instrument like that? You've got to be gentle with fragile equipment."

"If I hadn't hit it, I wouldn't be here now," she reasoned.

"You've got a point. Thank Rassilon you get frustrated sometimes." He grimaced again, this time doubling over in pain, clinging to Peri's arm to keep from falling into the hole. "I don't want to be here anymore," he breathed. He rolled slightly onto his side, causing the rubble below him to shift in protest. A split second later, he froze, realizing the predicament they were in. "The ledge is going to collapse under us," he commented. Turning his head towards the source of his lover's voice, he raised a hand. "Help me," he pleaded, unable to hide his fear.

Peri grabbed his hand. "Always," she answered simply, resetting the bracelet once more. "As soon as we get out of here, I can take you home. I'd like to take you to an ER but we can't risk that. Once we're home, I can care for you."

"Okay," came the quiet answer. He forced himself to get first to his knees and then to his feet, holding onto Peri's shoulder for support. He took a shaky, frightened breath. "I still can't see."

"Don't worry, darling. Just hold onto me." She spoke to him calmly, hoping her voice would provide the strength he needed now. Her mind went to the Doctor and her hatred of the Gallifreyan who'd brought her love to this point. His hand tightened around hers as she wrapped an arm around his waist, hitting the activation button.

While Peri had gotten the bloody bracelet thing to work in general, she still hadn't figured out the finer points of navigation and thus they found themselves several miles from their home. She was at least glad that they hadn't rematerialized inside a wall, given the randomness of the teleport but figured that it was probably a failsafe build into the device, one she was greatly appreciative of. Hailing a cab, she got the Gallifreyan into the backseat before entering the compartment herself.

The driver looked at the two of them with a frown. "Hospital," he stated knowingly as he pulled away from the curb.

"No," she said firmly. "No hospital." When the driver gave her a quick glance and a look that said he thought she might be crazy, she responded, "It's against our religion to seek help from a hospital."

The driver shook his head with disbelief but nonetheless drove them to the gated community where they lived when not at the Prometheus Institute apartment. From his point of view, there were way too many of these nutters around. Still, a fare was a fare.

Once they'd arrived at their destination, Peri paid the driver the fare before turning to her husband. "Harry? Not much longer. I need you to come into the house with me. I'll take care of everything and you can sit and rest but we have to get inside. Can you do that?"

He nodded slowly. "For you, I can walk around the Earth twice," he murmured to her, a weak smile on his face.

She smiled back, hearing his devotion. She knew that he was in very bad shape but she also knew his spirit was still strong. "You won't need to do that tonight. Maybe later," she said trying to lighten the ordeal.

After helping the Master out of the vehicle, she maneuvered the blind alien to the door. Once inside, she led her love into their living room. Once he was sitting she put her hands along his cheeks to focus him. "We're here, darling. All we need to do now is get you cleaned up and into bed." She frowned, pulling away to finally look at the state he was in now that she had light to see by.

She looked at him with a combination of love and pain. She could see he was holding himself still in contrast to the more energetic kinetics he normally exhibited. She knew from his body language that he was more frightened than he let on and wondered if he'd ever been blind before. In addition to the sightless brown eyes, he was covered with angry bruising and deeps wounds with grime imbedded in the raw lesions and lacerations. She couldn't help herself from commiserating with him. "Oh, Harry," she whispered with heartache in her voice. "What have they done to you?"

"I've had worse," he answered haltingly, his tone indicating that the injuries hurt more than he was trying to let on.

She couldn't imagine him being any worse off than she saw him now but didn't contradict him. "Well, I don't think a shower is an option right now considering your condition but I do need to clean your wounds or they'll likely become infected."

"If you insist," the weary man replied, coughing slightly. He grimaced at his actions. "I'm congested," he said, surprise clear in his voice.

"Probably because of the dust you were breathing before I found you." She let out a breath. "The warmth of the bath should help that. Do you think you can get into a bath?"

He didn't answer for a long moment. "So tired," he breathed. "Hurt everywhere. Hurts to breathe. Even my hearts hurt." Realizing that she was waiting for him to give a definitive answer to her question, he took a shaky breath. "I can get into a bath," he told her, though the tone of his voice indicated that he wasn't looking forward to the experience.

"I'll help you," she promised, "but first let me get something for your pain." She retrieved a pain killer she knew he could take, having learned years before to keep aspirin out of their home. Fortunately, the painkiller they kept on hand was also fast-acting, which would help in her tending to his wounds. She had him swallow two of the lavender colored pills before moving him to the bath. She was glad that they had put their suite on the first floor of the newer home; it was easier for him. If they'd been in the home she'd had when they were first married, they would have had to negotiate the stairs and possibly her mother as she had tended to visit them on a regular basis the moment she had found out where they lived. It was one of the reasons they'd chosen the gated community.

As the water filled the tub, she helped him out of what was left of his Italian suit. As each piece that had covered his body was removed, bruises and other damage became evident. She didn't say anything but tears coursed down her face as she prepared him for his bath. It hurt her to hear him struggle with his breathing. She knew him as a strong and confident man. That man was still inside him but the pain pulled a mantle around him. "It will be better soon," she promised as she provided assistance in his getting into the slightly warm water. As he leaned back into warm, wet comfort, he closed his eyes and Peri was afraid he would pass out and drown since by herself she wouldn't be able to keep him from going under. "Harry," she called out sharply. "Wake up. Sleep is for later."

His eyes snapped open at her words. "Leave me alone. Let me sleep," he growled at her.

Although stung by his words, she understood why he was being so difficult. She knew he'd be more comfortable after a bath and thus didn't respond to the anger in his voice but rather said as comforting as possible, "Harry, I'm sorry. I'm so very sorry but you must stay awake for now. You don't need to do anything but soak. I'll take care of everything else."

He exhaled loudly, the straining sound grating the air. "Very well," he conceded. "For you."

Gaining his cooperation for the moment, she lathered a washcloth and gently bathed him, touching the bruises gently. Even though she was cautious in her actions, they still brought out gasps of pain from her beloved as the cloth opened sores and the soap stung him. Still, she forced herself to remember that it was all to help him and that his cursing her was a reflection of his pain and not of her actions.

The soap soon washed away the layer of debris that had covered him but the water turned foul quickly. Using warm towels to cover him, she drained away the dirty water and refilled the tub. She did this three times before the water stayed mostly clean. She also took care to wash his hair, which had become gray with the dust of the Prometheus Institute. Soon though, he was clean. Although she could now see in sharper focus the bruising, she could also tell that he was more relaxed now that his skin could breathe again. She helped him from the tub and put healing salve on his wounds. Finally, she eased him into one of the plush terry robes that they kept in their closet. "Now to bed." She'd pulled the covers back.

The Master let her help him into the bed, closing his eyes with a soft sigh. He had to admit that he was feeling much better for the very thorough bathing she had given him, despite still being in pain. He felt the covers being pulled over him and sighed again. Oh, yes, he could definitely sleep now. He could sleep and sleep... The thought caused him to open his eyes again. "Peri, I need to tell you something."

She'd seen him drifting off and was surprised by the sight of his eyes. "Yes, Harry? What is it?"

"I'm going to be asleep for a very long time. I don't know how long. Don't wake me unless you absolutely have to. Check my heartsbeats regularly to make sure they are beating normally. If not, you wake me and keep me awake until they beat normally again. Normally for me, that is. Otherwise, no food, only water. Is that understood?"

She looked into his eyes and saw they were tired, so tired, but they were also clear and lucid. "Is this something that Gallifreyans do?"

"Time Lords. We can heal ourselves if the injuries are not fatal. I haven't the energy to put myself into a healing coma so I'll have to do it the hard way. I may wake on my own occasionally before falling back to sleep again," he told her. "Just... take care of me." It was plainly obvious by his words that it had taken a great deal for him to admit that he needed her care.

"I will. I will be by your side whenever you awaken." She paused. "I love you, Harry."

"Oh, Peri. My magnificent Peri," he whispered. "I love you." He closed his eyes again and, taking a deep, shaky breath, slipped into the sleep his body was so desperate for.

Hearing him say the words she didn't expect caused a wave to run through her. She knew he cared deeply for her but for whatever reasons seemed unable to tell her he loved her on a regular basis. His verbal affirmation of his affection, however, wasn't a requirement for their relationship. She would stay with him forever. Smiling as he fell into the depths of sleep, she breathed out, "Sleep well, my love."


	19. Chapter 19

**Chapter 19**

 _A friendly reminder: this story takes place prior to Series 3 of Doctor Who therefore any discoveries made during and after Series 3 haven't been made yet._

Knowing that Sam was safe and being cared for by Maggie, thanks to Al's visits, the Doctor decided to focus his attentions to helping Jack recover from his experience at the Prometheus Institute. He chose not to move his ship as he didn't want to jostle Jack any more than necessary. Once the immortal man had healed to the point of almost being himself, the Time Lord set the TARDIS coordinates for the Maggie's abode and materalized inside her living room for the second time in forty-eight hours. He was heading towards the main doors when he heard Jack coming through the interior door. Turning, he gave the Captain a grin as he noticed him dressed in what seemed to be his favored choice of attire, namely trousers, shirt, boots, suspenders and a WWII American military longcoat.

"You're looking chipper," the Time Lord commented.

"Easy to do when you don't feel like hell," the ex-Time Agent answered, returning the grin. He examined the controls of the TARDIS for a moment, noting that their location had changed. "So where are we now?"

"Maggie's place. Figured it's better than that hole in the earth and we really should check to make sure Sam is full recovered as well."

"What happened to Sam?" Jack asked, curious and concerned.

"Oh, that's right. You don't know," the Doctor commented. He tucked his hands into his trousers, holding a relaxed stance. "One of the Master's people apparently shot him in the shoulder. Good thing Maggie was with him at the time or he probably would have died. And Glad helped him too. She has the same blood type as Sam so that came in really handy."

"Transfusion?"

"Donation. She wasn't drained dry."

"You know what I meant," Jack said, his eyes looking pointedly at his friend.

"He lost a lot of blood," the Time Lord told him. A whimsical smile came to his face as he spoke. "Of course, Glad was a little perturbed that Sam needed her blood. Not an easy concept for a medieval peasant to cope with."

"How so?"

"She thought if he needed her blood, he must be one of the undead."

"Oh. That must have been an interesting myth to dispel."

The Doctor gave him a wry grin. "Come on," he suddenly instructed, turning back towards the exit and strolling down the ramp. "I'm sure the girls are waiting for us to step out." Sure enough, the moment that he stepped out of the time ship, the Gallifreyan was bombarded with a chest-full of Galadriel, causing a high-pitched laugh to escape his lips.

"Doctor!" she exclaimed, hugging him tightly. "Sam's been cranky although not nearly as much as he was at the hospital."

"Hello, Doctor," Maggie stated. Seeing Jack step out behind the Time Lord she added, "You're looking good, Harkness."

"My heart be still. Did Margaret Hawthorne actually give me a compliment?" Jack quipped back.

"Don't push it," she answered with a friendly glare.

"Oh... but it's so much fun to push... and pull... and squeeze... and..."

"Stop it!" came three voices at once.

"Geez, you'd think after blowing myself up twice to save the world, I'd get a little break," the immortal man said with a feigned grump.

"You got blown up?" Glad questioned with concern. "But... my pendant..."

"Would have worked if the Master hadn't taken it at the last minute. It saved him."

Maggie's face dropped. "You mean that megalomaniac is still alive and can do this all again? Brilliant... just brilliant. All of our actions for naught, are they?" As she spoke she became angrier and more animated.

"I'll make sure that the Pi Network is dismantled properly so there isn't any chance of him doing it again," the Doctor stated firmly.

"Just like you said there wasn't any chance of him being alive?" She looked at Jack. "You were supposed to take him out. Great way to stick to the plan."

"Hey! I did what I could. Not everything goes smoothly, no matter what the plan," Jack shot back. "I suppose that it's your fault that Sam was shot. After all... you were with him."

Seeing that the situation would soon turn into an all-out argument, the Doctor raised his hands, putting himself between the Australian and the 51st century human. "Take it easy. No one is blaming anyone."

"Like hell," Maggie countered, still furious.

The Time Lord turned to her, glaring at her. "Stop it, Margaret. Blaming Jack for the Master's escape isn't going to solve anything. It isn't the first time he's escaped and I doubt it will be the last. He tries and tries but he hasn't succeeded yet and I am not about to let him." There was a light in his eyes even as he spoke, as if he were anticipating the next time he would encounter the other Gallifreyan.

"You sound like you're okay with that. Almost..." She searched his face. "You don't want him dead, do you," she accused.

The Doctor stared at her for a long moment before walking silently further into the living room, deliberately ignoring the anger that was radiating off of the woman. He slowly sat down on Maggie's couch, Glad following him and sitting beside him, not ready to jump into the fray but instead wanting to provide support for her friend.

"Can you blame him?" Jack questioned when it was clear that the Doctor wasn't going to respond to Maggie's allegation.

"What are you talking about? Of course I can blame him! He's all about this 'save the world' and he doesn't even do what's needed to stop that bastard. Don't you remember? They were going to use a flipping belt sander on me! Blowing him up didn't stop him so we have to go after him before he does something else!"

The immortal man took a slow breath, stepping closer and lowering his voice out of deference to the silent alien. "How would you feel if there was only one other person of your own species? Wouldn't you want them to live, despite everything?"

Maggie started to answer but then realized what Jack had said, her face taking on the question. "He's the last of his species? I thought there were oodles of Time Lords."

"No. Just him... and the Master." He paused considering what he'd seen and heard, especially when they confronted the other Time Lord in the heart of Lothos' complex. "And I think they have a history."

"You think that about every living thing on the planet, Harkness," she told him derisively, her tone indicating what she thought he was inferring.

"Not that!" Jack said almost vehemently. "It's fine for you to question my motivations in that realm, not his."

"Yeah, well, I'm not seeing the Doctor torturing people for fun and profit so it had to be something else for them to have had a history."

"You're right. He wouldn't. That's not in his nature. Why it's in the Master's, I don't know but..."

"He changed," came a low voice from the couch. The two looked over at him, surprised at hearing his voice but both listening intently. "He wasn't always interested in ruling the universe." He paused, his tone growing sadly fond. "I remember when all he wanted was to explore it. Just like me. But that was centuries ago. We were just kids then."

Glad reached over and took his hand. "What happened?" she prodded gently. Somehow she knew he needed to talk. To deal with this subject.

"Don't know," he admitted. "We were close... friends even... but then... Some say he went mad, that his madness started when he looked into the Untempered Schism. All I could see was that his personality changed over time. By the time we graduated the Academy, I didn't recognize him at all."

"You grew to dislike him," she stated knowingly.

"Kind of hard not to dislike someone when they try to kill you," the Doctor said quietly.

"But you never hated him, even then... correct?" the girl from Camelot surmised.

"It isn't his fault he became the way he is. Something drove him. No one changes like that without external uncontrollable influences. Maybe it was the Untempered Schism. Maybe it was something else. I don't know. But I can't hate him. Distrust him, dislike him... but never hate." He turned to look at Maggie. "I can't give up on him. Not after all these years. Destroying him was literally the last thing I wanted. A back-up plan in case worse came to worse. When he wouldn't listen and the options ran out, I had no choice but to let Jack do what had to be done. Doesn't mean I liked it."

"But he's evil!" Maggie answered vehemently.

"He's misguided," the Time Lord corrected. "There is a difference."

Jack took a slow breath. "No matter what makes the Master who he is and what he might do in the future, there's little that we can do about it at the moment." Seeing Maggie about to protest, he pointed at her. "We are not going on a manhunt. We start going down that back alley, we would be just as bad as the Master. The Doctor says that he won't let him win and that's good enough for me."

"And me," Glad said firmly.

Maggie's mouth opened and closed twice before she narrowed her eyes but acquiesced. "Fine. I guess I'm the only one that thinks that fighting fire with fire just might be the right thing to do."

"Fighting fire with fire is never the right thing to do," the Gallifreyan told her, standing abruptly. "But visiting the sick... isn't that one of the great virtues your religions teach?"

"What's that have to do with the Master?" Maggie asked.

"Nothing at all. So where is Sam?"

Glad smiled. "Do we need to get grapes again?"

"Grapes!" the Doctor exclaimed. "Right! No. That's only if he was in the hospital. Well, I suppose he doesn't have to be in a hospital to receive a get well gift of grapes." He turned to Maggie. "Where can we buy grapes? Is there a little shop around here that sells grapes? Love little shops."

"I suppose we could do that at Mr. Martin's store." She paused. "But before we leave this, I want you to know one thing. I'm holding you responsible for making sure that bastard doesn't hurt another soul." When Jack started to say something in the Doctor's defense, she turned to him. "You too. If he fails, you're backup. Got it?"

"Blimey, no wonder you're a geologist," the Gallifreyan grumbled.

"Rocks don't give me any crap," Maggie stated in agreement. "So?" she questioned, glancing between the two men.

"So what?" Jack countered with a frown.

"I want your promise... You keep him from hurting anyone else."

The Doctor responded immediately. "You have my word."

She considered the words and then nodded. "Fine. Mind you do just that. Now let's go get those bloody grapes," she stated, striding out the door and expecting the others to follow.

"Yes, ma'am," the Gallifreyan replied, going in step behind her, the rest trailing him.

Once they'd picked up the grapes that the small grocery that was close to Margaret's house, they returned ready to visit the still recovering leaper. The Doctor carried the grapes into the kitchen with the intent to rinse them off, Glad following.

As Maggie and Jack waited for the Gallifreyan to return with the traditional get well gift, there was a knock on the door. As Maggie opened it, three men walked trying to push past her. "We need to see Miss Tyler."

"Now hold on!" the geologist countered, angered by the invasion into her home. "Just because you were my sister's surgeon doesn't and what give you the bloody right to bust into my house!"

"This is Dr. Tanner, our chief hematologist. We need to get another sample of Miss Tyler's blood to confirm something very important," Sam's surgeon replied. He looked strangely at the old style police box that was sitting in her living room. "Interesting decor."

"She likes antiques," Jack quipped. "Why do you need another sample of Miss Tyler's blood?"

"To assure the last one wasn't contaminated somehow," Dr. Tanner answered.

Having heard voices downstairs, Sam had decided to see what was the fuss was. He came down in a t-shirt and blue jeans. "What's going on? Oh, Dr. Manticks, I didn't expect you to make a house call."

"Doesn't sound like a house call to me," Jack offered. "They want more of your blood."

"They're vampires!" Glad exclaimed as she walked back into the room when she heard the commotion from the kitchen.

"Oh gawd, not that again," Maggie replied in kind.

"It's a joke," the girl countered. "Sheesh!"

"Why?" Sam questioned, ignoring their banter.

"We need to confirm the antibodies in your blood," Manticks informed him. "They have some unique properties."

The leaper, figuring they were talking about the ones he'd developed against Zante's Bronchial Influenza, agreed. The sooner those were studied and entered the general Earth population the better. He went to the dining room and sat in one of the chairs.

When Dr. Mantick's pulled the gauze away from Sam's wound, he exclaimed, "Amazing!"

Dr. Tanner added, "Amazing, hell. This is a bloody miracle!"

"What's a miracle?" Glad asked.

"Would you please stop talking about me as if I'm not in the room," Sam's complained. He was ignored.

"It goes against all medical science," Dr. Manticks said looking at what should have been a still healing wound. "It's just... impossible."

The Doctor, deciding to investigate when Glad didn't return, stepped out of the kitchen, his sleeves still rolled up. "Umm... excuse me, but... what's going on?"

Dr. Manticks recognized the newcomer. "Ah. Dr. Smith. This is a banner day. I'm not sure how, but Dr. Tyler has made medical history."

The Time Lord was utterly confused. "And how is that?"

"Come take a look yourself," the surgeon offered, stepping aside to allow the Doctor to pass through the crowd, leaving the rest of his companions on the outside of the circle, wondering.

The alien physician, without taking his hands from his pockets, looked at Sam from head to toe. "Making medical history, they say."

"I'd be a lot happier about that if I wasn't the guinea pig," the leaper groused. "What did you do?"

"Me? I don't even know what history you've apparently made." He glanced around at the crowd of doctors, suddenly understanding how Sam was feeling at the moment. "You know what? Let's just give Dr. Tyler a little space, shall we? I'm sure there is plenty of time to examine the ramifications of what has happened here, whatever that may be." He gestured towards the door as if shooing them away. "Go on. Off you go."

"But the wound... the blood sample...we need..."

"You need to get out of my house before I call the coppers. Now, I'm sure when Dr. Smith is ready to let my sister be examined by you vultures again, he'll call you. Until then, out!" she said, making it clear they were not wanted at the moment.

"We'll be back," Dr. Manticks answered huffily. "This kind of medical breakthrough cannot be hidden." They did leave, however, to allow Dr. Smith to examine her.

"Terrific," Maggie grumbled. "Another thing to look forward to."

Once they were gone, Sam looked up gratefully to Maggie and the Doctor. "Thank you. I don't think this was about the flu."

"You're welcome," the Gallifreyan replied. "Now, what exactly is it about you that's made medical history?" he questioned. The others gathered around Sam, clearly interested.

Sam pulled down his t-shirt to show the area where he'd been shot. "I guess the fact that this is healed. I was pretty amazed myself to be honest. I was going to ask you about it." Other than the skin being reddened and some bruising, there was no sign of the trauma that the leaper had suffered. "So... what's going on?"

"But... that's impossible," the Doctor whispered. He touched the place where the wound had been, causing Sam to wince slightly. He ignored the wince. "There's hardly any indication that you were ever shot." He moved slightly so that he could see the entry point on the leaper's back. "I mean, nothing."

"Yeah. I know. Which is why I want to know what you did. You gave me some kind of alien treatment, right?"

"I didn't do anything. You had a gunshot wound and I couldn't get you back to the TARDIS to tend to you properly. This is quite literally impossible. Humans don't heal like this. They just don't... well, other than Jack," he stated matter-of-factly as he reached into his pocket to pull out his sonic. "You haven't died and been brought back to life by a human who's just looked into the time vortex, have you?" A moment later he answered himself. "Of course you haven't; you're not a fixed point in time." Raising the sonic, he scanned Sam's shoulder and then stared at the device as if it had suddenly changed shape, confusion clear on his face. "Who were your parents?" he questioned, his tone indicating that he was grabbing for some sort of clue to explain the results.


	20. Chapter 20

**Chapter 20**

Sam looked at the Doctor with a confused look on his face. It seemed like a question out of left field, not that he wasn't getting used to that from the Gallifreyan. "John and Thelma Beckett. Why?"

"Human?"

"Totally," Sam answered drily. His eyes narrowed. "What are you pulling, Doctor? It's not funny."

"I'll say it isn't," the alien agreed, still staring at the screwdriver. "You have non-human antibodies in your blood."

"What?" Jack questioned, taking a step forward. "That sort of thing is ingrained in a person's DNA. You can't just suddenly develop non-human antibodies."

Understanding slowly came to the Doctor's eyes. "But you can have them temporarily after a blood transfusion before the natural immune system destroys them."

"Are you saying the hospital gave me alien blood?" Sam grew concerned. "Wouldn't that be like getting the wrong type? I'm not feeling anything that would indicate that."

"You didn't get the wrong blood type. One of your donors had human blood but alien antibodies. Doesn't happen often. Extremely rare, in fact. And I know whose blood it is." The Time Lord turned his head to look at the youngest member of his latest crew.

Glad looked at him with confusion. "Who... and why are you looking at me that way?"

Jack instantly understood. "Wait a minute. You're saying..." He frowned slightly. "Glad? Little Galadriel?"

"I saw it," the Doctor stated gently. "In a different timeline, now erased from existence. Didn't even remember it until now. Didn't even quite understand it but it makes perfect sense when you think about it. No human has ever had such strong psionic abilities as Galadriel, especially not a human from Medieval England. And the potential I saw in her when I met her... she quite literally glowed with it."

Maggie gave a weak laugh. "You're joking, right." Seeing the Gallifreyan give her a raised eyebrow that showed absolutely no humor, she stopped laughing. "But that's ridiculous. Look at her! She's just a teenager."

"Are you saying I'm an alien?" the girl asked, confused.

"Sort of," came the Doctor's response.

"Sort of? What does 'sort of alien' mean?" Sam asked.

"It means that, based on the evidence currently available and without any kind of scientific verification other than the scan I just made of your blood, there is a good chance that Galadriel isn't entirely human."

"And what species do we have the honor of discovering today?" Jack asked. His mouth turned down. "I hope she's not part Ood."

"What's wrong with being an Ood?" the Doctor questioned. "They're a bit odd, I'll admit but they seem rather harmless to me." He considered the species for a moment. "Still, a species that lives to serve, quite literally... There's got to be something with that."

"I guess. They just give me a strange feeling... like there's something... hidden about them. It just gives me the creeps," the immortal man explained.

"Nah, the Ood are harmless," the Doctor reiterated. "In any case, I seriously doubt that she's part Ood. Ood don't have a telepathic field as high as Glad's."

"So... what is she then?"

The alien scientist looked at Glad with questioning interest. "I don't know. Yet." He took a deep breath and started to move around the room. "In any case, I need to get back to the TARDIS to find out and, since Sam is almost completely healed, I see no reason for him to remain here any longer."

"We can leave? Just like that?" Sam asked, perking up. "No more 'let's look at him... um... her under a microscope?'"

"Don't see why not? Come on, then." The Time Lord started towards the TARDIS.

Glad was still quiet, processing what had been said about her a few minutes ago. "But... I want to know who... or rather... what I am."

"And you do still have grapes and your jacket and coat in the kitchen," Jack pointed out.

"Fair point. I'd be upset if I left my coat behind," the Doctor agreed, turning to head towards the kitchen. Seeing the identity crisis that was clearly running through the girl's eyes, he stopped. "Why don't you three go into the kitchen and enjoy the grapes? Just don't get anything on my coat." When they looked at him confused, he added, "I need to talk with Glad. Alone."

The others, now understanding, followed his suggestion.

The Doctor guided Glad into the TARDIS' infirmary before gesturing to a stool. "Have a seat, Galadriel," he ordered as he went to table and procured an instrument. Going to the girl, he instructed her to hold still as he pressed the instrument against the inside of her right arm. When he withdrew it, there was a tiny red mark in her skin indicating that he had drawn some blood without causing the girl any discomfort. Going back to the table, he plugged the device into a socket and started typing away on a keyboard. "I'm seeing human DNA," he finally told her. "So at least we know for certain that you definitely have human blood and aren't just mimicking it. It wouldn't be good for Sam if it were the latter."

"Why not?" Glad asked. "If all that stuff I heard about becoming a monster from losing blood were just stories and myths... why would it matter?"

"It's not the fact that you gave him blood that would be the problem; it would be the kind of blood you gave him. There are different types of blood, Galadriel, which is why Maggie was so adamant about you donating for Sam's sake. If Maggie had given her blood, it wouldn't have been accepted by Sam's body and that might have killed him. The same would go with alien blood mimicking human blood; it's not the same type of blood and therefore... But fortunately, you definitely have human blood, which explains why I didn't recognize anything different when I first did a blood test after… well, after." He didn't want to bring up the traumatic experience Glad endured thanks to her kidnapping . "It's just your antibodies that are alien..." He paused thoughtfully before pulling his sonic and scanning her with it. Looking at the results, he raised an eyebrow. "And apparently a few of your internal organs. Oh, they look human from a distance but they are definitely not. I really don't know how I could have missed that before."

Glad listened to him, blinking. "How could I be alien?"

"I have no idea," the Time Lord confessed. "I mean, cross-species mating isn't common and sometimes it can bring about very nasty results. However, from my observations, it seems humans are the most compatible for mating with other species. Never figured out exactly why that is. Still, I am absolutely positive that you are indeed only half human. The other half..." He frowned for a moment as he typed on the keyboard again, the monitor above it flashing with Gallifreyan writing. "I can't find a genetic cross reference to a planet of origin. But... that's impossible."

"Impossible? But you said..." Glad put in, concerned by what the Doctor was surmising.

He scratched the back of his head, his eyes indicating his confusion as he continued as if she hadn't said anything. "Unless, of course, there's a completely uncharted planet in the universe. And if there were one I'd know about it. Parallel universe?" he questioned aloud. "Can't be that. It's impossible to cross into parallel worlds without affecting the fabric of the universe." He paused again. "Another dimension, however..." Realization came to his eyes. "Of course! Stories and myths! That's exactly what this is all about!" Immediately, he started typing almost frantically, excitement growing in his eyes.

"Stories and myths?" She blinked. "Are you saying that... there's something wrong with me? You're alien and you're wonderful."

"Oh, Galadriel. There's nothing wrong with you. Nothing at all. In fact, you're magnificent! There is a species, Galadriel. A noble species, dedicated to peace and knowledge. I've met them only once... Well, Sam and I did. My people called them the Shades. They can't interact with our universe but we can interact in theirs but only when they allow it. They have even volunteered to help our universe by taking the most insane criminals, including Krazan the Terrible - that would be the Dragon we returned to Lastiarus for burial."

"What does that have to do with me? I've always been in this universe," Glad pointed out.

"There is this legend... this story... this myth... that a group - some say a sect or a cult - of Shades had decided to come to this universe to explore," the Doctor told her. "They altered their physiology so that they could exist in our universe and they took the most common biological form - namely humanoid. And one Arguulian scientist speculated on what kind of DNA sequence these people had, using some well-known unidentified genetic anomalies in a variety of species. If I can just cross Dr. Jwehyrln's work with the sample and the scan I took..." A moment later, a grin the size of Mount Rushmore filled his features. "HA!" he exclaimed triumphantly. "Oh, Galadriel. You are... glorious! I felt it in you when we first met but I had no idea... I never even believed your people existed and some of my people even worshipped you... I should be on my knees before you..."

"Stop it, Doctor!" Glad cried out. "You make me sound like... like... an angel that's caught you unawares. I'm just a simple girl from Camelot. I had a mother that spun yarn and made wonderful tapestries and a father that worked the fields. I'm not anyone's object of worship... certainly not yours!" Her voice held sadness, anger, and even some fear.

The Gallifreyan sobered at her words, noting how she shook slightly. Going to her, he held one shoulder gently while delicately brushing her cheek with his thumb. "I'm sorry I frightened you. I tend to forget that you may be brilliant but you're still from the Middle Ages." He thought for a long moment. "You never told me about your parents, other than your father died and your cousin inherited your farm. That and the tapestry and clothes from your mother."

Glad nodded. "My father had died not long before I met you. He'd suffered from a severe imbalance of the humors, caused his heart to stop. I don't remember much about my mother other than she had a beautiful voice and I felt happy when she held me. My father never told me exactly what she died of but I remember that it was quick. One day she was there and then I never saw her again. I remember my father smiling or crying so often when he'd look at her tapestries. I think her dying broke his heart."

"Tapestries..." he stated thoughtfully. "May I see them?"

"Of course," Glad answered nodding. "They're in my room."

"Show me," he instructed gently and then allowed her to guide her through the TARDIS to the room the girl had claimed as her own.

The room was plain with little decoration. White walls surrounded the unmade queen sized bed that had been provided for her, and based on the way the sheets were mussed, it was obvious that she hadn't used more than a third of the bed for sleeping. The oak dresser appeared to be the most used piece of furniture as there was no sight of any of her clothes, all of it carefully stored away for future use. The tapestries in question were sitting on a matching desk, still rolled.

"You... haven't even decorated in here," the Doctor noted, concern in his voice at the revelation. "Don't you feel at home?"

"Since my father died, this is the only place that has felt like home," Glad assured. "I didn't want to hurt the TARDIS by putting a nail into the wall, though, and I knew no other way to hang the tapestries."

A wondrous smile came to the Time Lord's lips. "Oh, Glad. More proof of how beautiful you really are. Thinking about the TARDIS before your own comfort." He took a deep breath. "We'll get you set up proper without causing her undue harm. Now... let me see your tapestries."

The girl took one of the rolled up material art from the top of her desk and carried them to her somewhat messy bed, unrolling it over the bedspread. The colors in the pieces were somewhat muted by time but the choice of the hues spoke to one that was aware of the broad spectrum of possible colors. As both of the people currently viewing the tapestry had the ability to see beyond the normal rainbow of humans due to their alien genes, the pictures stitched onto the canvas were more vibrant than a typical human could see. "She was an artist, yes?" Glad asked as she noted the Doctor taking out his glasses and gazing amazed at the work.

Like most tapestries of the Middle Ages, the large cloth told a story close to the heart of the artist. In this case, it was almost reminiscent of 20th century new age fantasies. In the foreground of the piece was a tall, crystal castle silhouetted by a waterfall that ended in a pool that surrounded the castle. In front of the castle was a green pasture that shimmered from the bright lilac sky, adding to the surrealism of the images. At the forefront of the piece, at the bottom of the castle stairs, were two figures, one obviously a handsome male human, the other a feminine figure whose features shone almost angelically, though she seemed just as human as the man. They held hands, gazing into each other's eyes with such love that it could almost be tangible. The tapestry was bordered with intricate designs that could easily be misconstrued as merely being decorative.

The Doctor ran his fingers gently over the fabric, clearly awed by it. "This is... Well, it's..." Instead of finishing the sentence, he simply grinned and then laughed with obvious joy. "Oh, your mother was a fantastic artist. Look at those colors! Magnificent! And the writing along the border..."

"Writing? What writing?" Glad asked, looking at the beautiful textile for something and not finding it. She looked up at him, somewhat annoyed. "Oh, Doctor. It's not nice to tease me about this. It means too much to me," the girl chastised.

"I would never tease you about something so precious, my dear," he assured her. Standing up from his bent position, he took off his glasses and pointed to the border on the cloth. "Those designs on the edges. That's an ancient language. I doubt anyone has read these words since you mother passed on."

"What do they say?" she asked, now curious.

At her question, he slipped on his glasses once again to look at the pictorial writing. "I'm not quite sure. Not exactly well read in Philo - Philocalist, that's what your mother was and who you are... well, half-Philocalist anyway - primarily because it's a dead language." He bit his bottom lip for a moment before speaking slowly, obviously reading it as best as he could, rolling the words off his tongue. "Ferakana seterrena iperilude neusiru min sartonisi mano..."

Glad suddenly started in a sing-song voice, her eyes on the tapestry but appearing to look through it not at it. "...norin sinkesi manaple net flinorikso mar."

The Time Lord stared at her as she finished reading part of the text on the textile with such beauty he hadn't ever heard come from human lips. "How did you..."

"They were my parents' vows to each other. The ancient promises of the love and caring they would shower upon each other." She looked over to him again, her eyes shining brightly with pools of tears in her eyes. "I don't know how I know but I do. It's as if when you began, the meaning held within the patterns sang out to me and understanding it was like knowing the sky is blue or the snow is cold. It just was."

Amazement came onto the Gallifreyan's face. "Genetic memory. You know it because your mother knew it. Passed along with her DNA."

The tears started to fall and her hand came up to brush them away. "Why didn't I know this before? I'd looked at these pictures all my life and I never even knew the words were there."

"I don't know," he admitted gently, looking apologetic that he didn't have the solution to her dilemma.

Glad nodded, understanding that this wasn't something that could be answered. "I need to look at the other tapestries," she said walking back to her desk and taking the other two rolls from the top. Taking them over to the bed, she laid them out the same as the first. One of the tapestries showed the angelic woman with a child in her arms, the man coming in from the fields where he had been working to care for the two. The love seen in the previous tapestry was shown as well, but in addition was the happiness that was evident in the scene. The crystalline castle had given way to a small but tidy thatched house common in medieval times. Glad's eyes again took in the border. "My birth, Doctor. I was a fulfillment of their wish to be a true family."

"You were a beautiful baby, if this is accurate," he complimented with a grin. He gained a curious look on his face. "You can read and understand the language?"

"It is becoming clearer now that it's open to me, whatever the reason." She looked at the man closer. "My father. He would tell me how much I reminded him of her. Sometimes I think that hurt his heart as well, because I made him remember when he'd been truly happy and he wouldn't find that again... not completely."

"I'm sorry," the Doctor responded after a moment.

"It's okay. I understood. He did love her so. When she died, I think a part of him died too." Her eyes smiled as she recalled him. "He was a wonderful father, very protective. He would ask me every time I came back from church school what they had asked and what I had answered. He really was very concerned about making sure that I learned everything the fathers taught me."

"He was a very religious man, I take it."

"You'd think so, wouldn't you," she said more as a statement than a question. "Oh, he went to church and did everything right in the eyes of the fathers, but I would catch him glaring at them as well when he thought no one could see him. I don't think he liked them much. He didn't let that stop me from learning all I could."

"Well, knowledge is extremely important. Sounds to me like he was trying to give you the best opportunities that he could. What father wouldn't." He glanced at the tapestries laid on the bed with a deep appreciation of the art. As he did so, he noticed a loose strand coming from the one just under the textile depicting Galadriel's birth. Quickly rolling the tapestry - and gaining a "Hey!" of protest from his seemingly careless actions - he noticed the reason for the loose thread.

"This last one is incomplete," he commented, bending down to look more closely at it.

Glad looked at it sadly. "She was working on it before she died. I'm not sure what it would eventually show, but..." She pointed out the theme. "See, it's a series of pictures... and my father said they were of me growing up." There were a total of three completed, depicting scenes of the same child at the ages of about one, four, and seven. The one that was almost completed showed a child of about ten years with chestnut curly hair tending a garden of flowers, the woman and the man were shown standing back and seemingly looking at each of the timeframes shown, none more than another. Based on the size of the tapestry, there would have been a total of six panes.

The Doctor examined the textile with interest. While Galadriel resembled his granddaughter Susan, he could now see how she resembled her mother, especially in her eyes and the color of her hair. The angelic quality to the face on the tapestry was easily reflected on Galadriel's face as well, proving once again to the Time Lord that the girl's mother was the one who came from another time and place. "It's a beautiful tapestry. Your mother was a very beautiful woman."

"I wish I remembered her better but from what I do remember she was kind and loving. She used to make me apple tarts in the fall when the fruit ripened. I remember those," Glad answered with a sigh.

"Fresh apple tarts. Good memory," the Doctor told her with a smile as he took off his glasses. "It's important to remember what little you do."

Glad only nodded, looking at the tapestries. After a long moment, she turned to the Gallifreyan with a smile. "Thank you." Seeing the slightly querulous look on his face, she clarified, "For showing me who I am."

"Galadriel," he said gently. "You've always known who you are. I just gave you an understanding of why you are." He tucked his hands in his pockets. "Tell you what. I can help you decorate your room in a little bit. Put those tapestries up, frame the unfinished one to keep it from unraveling, add a few other touches you might want."

"I'd like that, Doctor. I'd really like that," she said going to him and giving him a hug.

He returned the hug with a broad grin before tilting his head towards the door. "I imagine Margaret wants to get back to teaching her classes, and then we should take the others home. Jack wants to get back to his team and Sam... Well, he just wants to go home."

"Everyone is leaving?" Glad asked as she followed him, knowing they were going back to the console room and noting the TARDIS was changing configuration to get them there quickly.

"They have lives and friends they want to go back to," he said, a hint of sadness in his voice.

She stopped for a moment, worry on her face, while the Doctor continued forward for several feet. When he sensed she wasn't following, he turned towards her with question, an action which prompted the girl to speak. "Are you going to take me back too?"

"Do you want me to?" he questioned, his own worry flitting across his expressive brown eyes.

"No. Since my father died, where I was hadn't felt like home. I truly feel that when you came, my life changed in such a wonderful way. I don't want to leave you. Ever."

A sadness replaced the worry in his eyes before quickly shifting to one of delight. He knew that Glad would eventually leave him; they all did one way or the other. But like Rose had promised him forever, he knew that the girl was doing the same at that moment. And he really did want to spend as much time with her as he could, even if it was a relatively short amount of time. "Good." he stated bluntly. "Because I don't want you to leave me. Looks like we're stuck with each other for a while."

"I'm glad," she answered as they stepped through exterior door, Jack, Sam, and Maggie on the other side.

"Of course, you are," Jack quipped with a grin on his face. "Did he lose his memory or something? He is getting rather long in years, after all."

"Says the man who has already surpassed the natural longevity of a human," the Time Lord countered. "Why are you questioning my memory anyway?"

"She was telling you her name," he answered. "Seemed a bit strange to me."

The girl rolled her eyes. "I need a new nickname if this keeps up."

"Your nickname's just fine," Sam came to her defense. "It fits you." The grin he received for his gallantry was reward enough to him.

"All this is quite nice and all but... I think it's time that things get back to normal again," Maggie stated bluntly. "Don't get me wrong, Doctor. Meeting you and the rest has been an eye opening experience but I've had quite enough of this. No more adventures... unless it's to obtain a rock sample from a mountain ledge or some such place."

The Time Lord gave her a gentle smile as he went up to her and hugged her. "Thank you, Margaret. For everything."

She hugged him back. "Remember your promise, Doctor. You keep the Master in check, yeah?"

"I will," he reiterated before pulling away. He then gestured towards the outer door. "When you're ready."

"I'm going to miss you, Maggie," the ex-Time Agent told her.

She laughed gently at his words. "Hate to say it but... I'm going to miss you too. Just try to stay out of trouble, will you?"

"Like that will ever happen," the Doctor quipped.

Jack nodded in response to Maggie's wish with a squeeze to her hand but turned to the Doctor at his words. "Stop it." He grinned at the Time Lord mischievously.

The Gallifreyan chuckled slightly at Jack's turning the tables on him.

Sam and Glad also voiced their regrets in regards to the parting. Maggie gave each a hug and then, with a wave of her hand, walked out the door, saying they better come knock her up whenever they were in Australia again.

"Good thing she's Australian," Jack commented as the door closed behind her. "If she were American, that would have given a whole different meaning to the word vacation."

"Why?" Glad asked. "I think she just meant we should visit her again."

The head of Torchwood raised an eyebrow at her and then at the Doctor. "You've got a nun for a companion."

"You turn anything into innuendo," Sam stated. "None of the females I've ever been in the US would have provided that kind of invitation."

"You haven't been with the right kind of females," came a gravelly voice.

"Al!" Sam said, turning around to see his friend. "No, but I was the head of a bordello once, if you remember."

"That was the 1950s, Sam. It's the 21st century. 'Knock me up' does sound pretty inviting."

Jack looked at Sam realizing that the Admiral had arrived. "I don't think I read that report. Ziggy must have been holding out on me, the little vixen."

"Tell him it won't be that great a read. A perfect opportunity and you were a perfect gentleman," Al stated with a hint of disappointment in his voice.

The Doctor gave a wry grin at the conversation as he walked around the console, inputting information. "Sounds to me as if Samuel was being exactly who he should have been under the circumstances."

Glad looked around with a sigh. "I hate it when invisible people are talking. It's like only hearing half of a conversation." She looked at Sam. "What's a bordello?"

"Um... it was...sort of... well..." He looked uncomfortable but then smiled as he came to an answer. "It was a quilting academy. All the girls passed with the highest grades."

"Yeah, I bet they did," Jack commented with a broad grin.

"Stop it," the Doctor commented haphazardly from the console. He gave the immortal man a grin to show that he still had the upper hand.

Glad shrugged and went over to the console as well. "Where are we going now?"

"Cardiff," came the blunt response.

"Guess that means it's my turn to go home," Jack put in as the TARDIS gave a loud thump to indicate that they had arrived. "It's been good seeing you again, Doctor. Not pain free, mind you... but good." He paused. "I take it you're going to fuel up a bit."

"Shouldn't be more than a minute," the Time Lord responded as he opened up the engines to the ship.

"Well... don't make me wait over a hundred years to see you again. You know where I live now and you're always welcome."

The Doctor turned to him, pride in his eyes. "You can still come along, you know," he offered.

Jack shook his head. "No. I need to get back to the team. There's a lot to do to prepare Earth. The Master isn't the only threat this planet's going to face."

"Saving humanity one day at a time. Can't argue against that." The alien walked up to him and extended his hand. "Take care, Captain."

Looking at the proffered appendage, Jack grabbed it just to pull him into a tight hug. "Next time I see you, I want to see the same face." He turned to Glad and hugged her as well. "I know you'll watch over him. He may not say it much, but he needs his friends."

"I will, Jack," Glad answered. "And I'll make sure the Doctor comes to visit occasionally."

"As to you two... I'll see you at Quantum Leap," he said to Sam and the invisible man in the room. "Ziggy will never forgive me if I don't drop in sometime soon."

"It'll be good to be home," Sam agreed. "I look forward to your visit, Jack."

Al gave the holographic version of his boss a wave goodbye, hope in his eyes that Sam's wish would come true. A moment later, Jack exited the time ship.

As the man walked out, he called back, "By the way, when am I?"

The Doctor now at the console responded, "We've moved ahead about three months. You're team won't even know you've been gone."

"Then good travels, Doctor." Jack snapped a salute and then was gone.

The Time Lord now turned to Sam, giving him a knowing smile. "Ready to go home?" he questioned.

"I've been ready for years," the leaper answered truthfully. "I'm really going to make it this time?"

The Gallifreyan immediately turned towards Al. "With Albert's help, you will." Seeing the hologram frown in confusion, he continued. "I need a time and a place to take him and to hell with his rules."

Al smiled. "Oh. Yeah. New Mexico just south of the Trinity Bomb Site, April 5th, 2010." He turned the handlink to the Doctor where Ziggy had provided the actual latitude and longitude readings.

"On our way," the alien commented, once again turning to the console and changing the coordinates accordingly.

"In that case, see you on the other side," the Italian said emphatically, giving the alien a salute before disappearing through the Imaging Chamber door.

The moment Al left, the Doctor turned to Sam and gave him a winning grin before exclaiming, "Allons-y!"


	21. Chapter 21

**Chapter 21**

Ten long years had gone by. Early on, it had been her husband's health that had been her main concern. The physical damage to him had been extensive and even with Time Lord physiology it had been a long and painful climb for him to regain his strength. The explosion that had marred his body had also eliminated his ability to slip into a healing coma, making an ordeal that should have taken a few months into a nightmarish recovery. If that had been the only problem, Peri would have been saddened but accepting of the time it took. However there had been a mental aspect as well. As Harry had lamented time and time again, there were only the Doctor and him left of the Time Lord race. In addition he complained that, as much as she knew he loved her, he felt stuck on Earth, something he'd hated every time it had happened to him in the past. Worst of all nothing he had planned had come to fruition and the Doctor had won... _again._

After three years of living with a moody, sometimes violent, Time Lord, Peri had accidentally found the string that would eventually pull Harry back to the man she'd married. She had been grousing about Lothos and his betrayal of the Master. Harry had passed it off, stating categorically that Lothos was in even worse shape than he due to making a tactical error in setting up his escape route to the Republic of Myao. There, the incorporeal being hadn't been able to get any traction being a bodiless being whose minions were either dead from the explosion at the Prometheus Institute or had been jailed by the new government that had come to power weeks after he'd arrived. It wasn't that Harry wasn't angry at Lothos; it was that, in his depression, being reminded of Lothos' betrayal didn't help. However when Peri started talking about the first project Lothos had built where he'd had to run from the government then, the Master became intrigued and asked her to tell him more.

She hadn't been a part of Lothos' program then. Rather, she'd read the papers and reports from that time and had put together a pretty accurate timeline of what had gone on at the project. Lothos, then still a human named Wainwright, had a lucrative business of making bad things happen with his ability to manipulate the past. When he almost killed his archrival, Dr. Beckett, he ended up losing his top agents instead, which was a definite financial drain when he had to replace the agents. The business went bust when the government had realized that he could be a danger to them. He had to flee, having to waste a perfectly good set up by irradiating the building and making it unfit for human habitation, something that had upset the government of the small African nation of Bonzenland to no end. Hard to close business deals when you have a nuclear disaster front and center in your country.

"This could work," the Master stated, his interest growing. "We can go to this old project, rebuild it..."

"With what? We hardly have any money left from what we saved. I'm going to have to find a job soon or we won't be able to pay the rent." During the last several years, in order to maintain a low profile, they had taken on totally new identities - namely that of Harrison and Cherie Duncan - allowing it to be believed that Harry Saxon and Peri Langford had perished in the P.I. explosion. With the new identities also came new appearances for each of them thanks to hair coloring, contacts, and scars that the Master was unable to heal completely on either of them. Furthermore, they'd been forced to sell their home and all of their assets and move to what had been a small sheep farm in the Outback. While it was far less expensive than trying to make ends meet in the city, it was a bit of a constraint in that the nearest town was twenty miles away.

"I'm not ready to give up on this idea just because we're short of cash right now. What is it you humans say? Where there's a will, there's a way? We'll just have to find the way."

"There's another human saying... you can't get blood out of a turnip. Harry, there's literally no way to obtain any resources. If Reggie was alive, he might have been able to finagle something but the Doctor made sure that source of help is non-existent."

At the mention of their deceased friend, Harry looked even more saddened than he usually was. Other than Thete when he was a child, he'd never had a friend quite like Reginald Torkinson. As he thought of the man, an idea came to him. "Whatever happened to Reggie's bank accounts?"

"What bank accounts?"

"He told me once that smart humans always save for what he termed 'a rainy day.' I know that he had at least some money put aside."

"How much could he have put aside? Lothos was generous with some of his higher ranking personnel but Reggie was on the low end of the totem pole."

"That was before I took him under my wing."

"True. But even then, I doubt what he saved would have been enough for what you're planning. It would take a hell of a lot of money and resources to rebuild the old project."

"Not nearly as much as you'd imagine, my dear. If we had something set up, my knowledge of alien technologies would allow us to make whatever the traffic will bear. I figure several thousand would be all we'd need to set up the shell of a company. Where did you say Lothos's original program was located?"

"A small country in Africa. Bonzenland."

"What's the economy like there? Surely it would be less costly than here."

She shrugged slightly. "How would I know? I'm not a global financial expert. I'd never even heard of Bonzenland before I read about it. And when I did, I swore for about a week that it was made up, like Balamory."

"You need to research it then. I can't do everything you know. We need to find out what's happened to Reggie's money. I know he didn't have a will or anything. While we're at it, what about the other workers at P.I.? Certainly if we paid them they owe us something."

Peri gave a little smile. "I think I could figure out a way to get into some files, maybe some online bank accounts, and make a few unscheduled donations to a small charity. Naturally, the charity will mysteriously disappear after the funds are transferred and cashed out."

"Now you're thinking, my dear. Don't forget to learn more about that little country too. I doubt it could be too expensive."

Leaving her husband for several days in the Outback, Peri went into the nearest city and, using her knowledge of computers and the country's library system, was able to look into the bank accounts of several former employees of the Prometheus Institute, most of them having been killed in the explosion. She'd found many had heirs who had already collected the funds from the accounts. A small number, however, hadn't and she was able to manipulate several banking systems to transfer funds into a single account she opened under the name of Baaswraak Enterprises, a small charity that purportedly helped the disabled in Africa.

However, the biggest windfall came from Reggie himself. The man had obviously been embezzling from Lothos for many years. The web of his accounts was vast and intricate. One would turn up one account to find that it led to many more. Reggie's legacy alone would mean they would be able to fund their quest... which would also allow him to be avenged. With the newly acquired funds, the Master and Peri were able to procure travel to Bonzenland. There they convinced the government to sell them the now-radioactive facility Wainwright once owned with the promise that they would clean the area and make it safe. The Master assured the President of his capabilities in achieving the goal by providing a well-spoken (and completely incoherent to ordinary humans) explanation of the process. Once they were able to obtain the property, the task of removing all radioactive material began.

The Master used various techniques to accomplish the feat, including using some that the Dominators used when conquering worlds. It took five years to finish the clean up, which resulted in an abundant amount of radiation being stored in specially made containers. It took another three years for the Master to reconfigure Lothos' old complex into one that would not only run on the energy the radiation provided but also removed all of the side effects inherent in travelling without protection from the time vortex.

Still, they hadn't tested the equipment and the Master wasn't ready to use up one of his lives in finding out if the damned thing would work.

"We need a guinea pig because I sure as hell am not going to test it," Peri stated bluntly. "I wouldn't suggest one of the natives of this country. The last thing we need is to get on the bad side of the President."

The Master sighed but then his face lit up. "Dr. Margaret Hawthorne."

"That Australian bitch?" she replied with interest. "It would have to be a well-planned kidnapping as there isn't any way she'd ever come along willingly. And we'd probably need a private charter, no questions asked." She smiled, her eyes showing that she was already orchestrating a plan. "Shall we return to the land of Oz for a short while, my love?"

"I have a better idea. We bring her to us. A nice conference on geological research with the leading scientists in their areas should be irresistible to her."

"And far less costly for us, certainly. I'm sure that I could arrange a get-together of geologists, maybe even convince the government to allow them unique access to some of their geological treasures. That would definitely get lots of attention all over the world. And if one scientist in that whole plethora of scientists went missing in this country, it would certainly be a tragic mystery but there is little they could do to investigate it without offending some very highly influential politicians here."

"Yes. Exactly. And once we prove the equipment is safe, we can use it ourselves."

"This is why we are the perfect couple, darling. Your brains and my brawn," she teased.

"I can think of a few more things that make us perfect together," he said saddling up to her sensuously.

"Oh, I bet you can," she purred in response, grabbing his collar and pulling him closer. "Why don't you show me what you know?"

DWQLTWDWQLTW

 _Cardiff, United Kingdom_

 _December 2009_

 _The Time Lord now turned to Sam, giving him a knowing smile. "Ready to go home?" he questioned._

 _"I've been ready for years," the leaper answered truthfully. "I'm really going to make it this time?"_

 _The Gallifreyan immediately turned towards Al. "With Albert's help, you will." Seeing the hologram frown in confusion, he continued. "I need a time and a place to take him and to hell with his rules."_

 _Al smiled. "Oh. Yeah. New Mexico just south of the Trinity Bomb Site, April 5th, 2010." He turned the handlink to the Doctor where Ziggy had provided the actual latitude and longitude readings._

 _Al smiled. "Oh. Yeah. New Mexico just south of the Trinity Bomb Site, April 5th, 2010." He turned the handlink to the Doctor where Ziggy had provided the actual latitude and longitude readings._

 _"_ _On our way_ _," the alien commented, once again turning to the console and changing the coordinates accordingly._

 _"In that case, see you on the other side," the Italian said emphatically, giving the alien a salute before disappearing through the Imaging Chamber door._

 _The moment Al left, the Doctor turned to Sam and gave him a winning grin before exclaiming, "Allons-y!"_

The time rotor started to move in a regular up and down motion before suddenly stopping.

"What?" the Doctor exclaimed with a frown. Knocking on the glass casing that held the rotor, he murmured, "What's the matter, hmm?"

Sam groaned. "Really? Now? You have a thousand year old timeship and it breaks down now?"

"Oi! She isn't breaking down and she's much older than a thousand years old so give her a break," the Time Lord complained. "If the TARDIS isn't dematerializing, there's a logical explanation."

"And that would be..." the leaper asked clearly expecting to have the question answered.

"I haven't the foggiest," came a muttered response as the Gallifreyan slipped on his glasses to look more intently at the time rotor.

"Great," Sam said, dropping down into the console chair, clearly deflated.

"Maybe she's just tired," Glad suggested. "I know I would be if I had been moving around as much as she has."

The Doctor shook his head. "She doesn't get tired like we do. I don't know. It's like she's queasy or something. Upset stomach? Well, if she had a stomach but you get the idea."

"I don't suppose you have any Pepto Bismol for her."

"What's Pepto Bismol?" Glad questioned with a frown.

"A medicine used to calm stomachs. You'd love it. It's pink and tastes like wintergreen," the alien informed her.

"I like wintergreen," the girl responded.

"Just don't go drinking a lot of Pepto Bismol. It'll make you sick."

"I thought you said it makes your stomach feel better."

"Only if you are actually taking it when you have an upset stomach. If your stomach is fine... it's a bit like swallowing castor oil, despite the flavor."

"Yuck."

"And how is this conversation going to get the TARDIS to dematerialize?" Sam put in, clearly starting to get a little annoyed.

"Never said that it would," the Time Lord informed him. "I think that in this case, Pepto Bismol or the equivalent wouldn't be much help." Just as he was about to go into a detailed explanation on his opinion, the door opened, admitting Jack and causing the three occupants to look at him with surprise.

"You're back!" Glad exclaimed, rushing to hug the immortal man.

Jack hugged her back. "Well... you never left." He looked over to Sam. "I thought he was taking you home."

"So did I," the physicist groused. "TARDIS decided to go on strike."

"Well, don't feel too bad about it," the ex-Time Agent stated. "I didn't exactly go home either."

"It isn't Cardiff out there?" the Doctor questioned. "Well, that would explain..."

"It's Cardiff. But it's not three months ahead of our last stop. You actually dropped me off a couple of months too early. I'll have to avoid running into myself before I go to the United States." He sighed. "You know, it's really a shame that running into oneself causes such temporal anomalies. I mean... it would sort of be nice meeting myself and being able to ..."

"Stop it!" the Doctor ordered.

"Discuss the issues of the day," Jack finished. "Not everything I say is sexual, you know."

"Right," Sam responded. "And for once, I really don't care if it is or isn't. I don't give a flying flip if you do have an erotic attraction to yourself and could care less if you acted on it."

"There are many people I would willingly do in a heartbeat but myself isn't one of them." He grinned slightly. "Watching on the other hand..."

"You're incorrigible," the Time Lord responded with a chuckle.

"You wouldn't have me any other way." He went over to the console and tapped on a gauge that suddenly dropped. "Umm... doesn't this gauge indicate the amount of energy the TARDIS has to use for traveling?"

"Yes," came the patient response.

"Then I think I found your problem."

"You did?"

"Yeah. Your gauge was stuck. You're running on fumes... or rather not running."

"No, I'm not. I opened the engines up just like normal. We should be fully fueled," the Gallifreyan protested, going over to double-check the gauge Jack was referring to.

"You let the TARDIS run out of fuel?" Sam asked.

"No!" the Time Lord once again countered. He thought for a long moment. "Maybe," he corrected. "Well... come to think if it, I might not have opened the engines after all."

"Great," Sam repeated. "How long until we're operational again?"

"Well, once I open the engines, only a few minutes. Maybe a little longer with how ill the TARDIS seems to feel." Going to the other side of the console, he pushed a few buttons and pulled up on a level. "There we go! Estimated time of departure..." He looked at the viewscreen and read, "... six hours?! Seriously?!"

"Well... if the TARDIS feels ill, six hours is hardly any time at all," Glad pointed out.

Sam sighed in resignation. "I guess considering how long I've been trying to get home, Glad's right. Six hours isn't much...even if it feels like eternity now."

"Don't worry, Sam. I'll take you all out to the best fish and chips place in Cardiff and the hours will go by like this," he said snapping his fingers.

"Is it that little shack just off the wharf?" the Doctor questioned with a smile. "Hope it's still there, especially after the incident with Blon."

"Oh, it's still there. Popular place." He pulled out his smart phone and hit a few buttons. "We better get going... I have Alison holding table for us. Great waitress... even better in the sack..."

"Stop it!" The other two men cautioned.

Jack sighed. "You weren't nearly as much of a prude when you wore leather," he complained to the Doctor, who just smiled.

"Leather?" Glad asked. "Like hunting clothes... or a blacksmith's apron? I don't see how what you do for a living has anything to do with being prudish."

"She just is so adorably ignorant, isn't she?" the Time Agent commented with a smile.

"I'm not ignorant!" she complained. "I know a lot of things!"

"Umm... Jack's referring to the fact you obviously don't know that leather is now more of a fashion statement than protective clothing," Sam said. "I just don't believe that wearing leather would affect your world view," he said, his eyes turning to the Doctor.

"It wasn't the leather. It was the man wearing it," the Doctor said drily.

Seeing Sam's confusion, Jack waved his hand. "Never mind. We're keeping Alison waiting."

"Can't leave her waiting," the Doctor agreed. "Come on," he encouraged, heading for the door.

The group followed him out, ready to get a nice meal since they were, for the moment, stranded in Cardiff.


	22. Chapter 22

**Chapter 22**

The operation to kidnap Maggie Hawthorne had worked better than they had hoped. None of the scientists who arrived at the remote geological conference had a clue that one of them had been silently swept away in a plain unmarked sedan to an isolated area of the countryside. When the blinding cloth bag had been removed, she found herself in a room which contained scientific machinery and instrumentation where, much to her ire, she'd been forced to put on a skin tight bodysuit and was promptly shoved into a large, stainless steel, smooth-walled chamber. Naturally, she was terrified when she felt an odd sensation running through her as her body started to glow red.

A moment later, she found herself in a small wooden structure, looking upwards at a seated man in a strangely cut dark button up suit with large white lapels and a powdered, intricately styled white wig.

"Then you admit you are a witch!" the man angrily accused her.

"A... a what?" Maggie questioned with a frown.

"Do not attempt to act as if you do not know what a witch is. You just said you possessed both a black cat and an owl, both familiars used by those of you that practice the black arts. Any educated man knows that."

"I own a cat? I'm allergic to cats... aren't I?"

"What is this... allergic?" the man asked. "Is that a way of saying you cavort with them?"

"Hell, no! I can't stand being near cats. You never heard of allergies?" She looked at the man as if he were a complete dunce.

Another man from the room called out, "Burn her. She's attempting to confuse us with her incantations." The rest of the people in the room showed there agreement by either nodding, ayeing, or both.

Looking around the room, she finally understood the situation she had found herself in. "I don't believe this," she grumbled. "Doctor! If this is your idea of a joke, I'm not laughing!"

"She calls upon her colleagues. Dr. Martin must be a warlock!" the man in the room called out.

"What?!" she exclaimed, realizing that she had inadvertently caused someone to become a suspect in a witch trial.

"Dr. Martin is no warlock. Do not allow the witch to cloud your reason," the white wigged man cautioned. He turned to Maggie. "But you Mistress Pryor shall be burned." He clapped his gavel done. "The court has spoken. Take her away."

"I'm not a witch!" she protested as two men came to gather her. They grabbed her arms tightly, ignoring her struggles to break free. "Let me go! Oh, gawd! This isn't happening! I'm not a witch... I'm not a wit..."

Suddenly she felt the strange feeling take her again and almost immediately found herself back in the stainless steel room. She fell to the floor. "...ch." She looked around her, her eyes wide. "A hallucination. It was a hallucination."

The door opened. "Hallucination?" a man asked as he entered the room. The man made a sound as if he were a buzzer. "Wrong! Want to guess again, Maggie May?" He gave her a wicked smile, clearly thrilled with the fear that he had seen in her face.

"Oh... who cares what she thinks she experienced," the woman beside him stated quickly. "It worked and now you can affect our vengeance. Let's just get it over with and let me kill her. Slowly."

"Darling, I know you still haven't had time to try any of your new toys but there will be plenty of time for that on someone else," the man replied. "I think this calls for something much more special than a belt sander."

"But I promise to let you watch," the woman said, disappointment in her voice.

"A... a... belt sander?" Maggie stated. "I've only heard of one other person wanting to use..." Her face blanched as she looked closer at the woman. The face was a little different, the hair, even the eyes... but there was something familiar about the voice. "Saxon?"

"Oh, look, _ma cherie_! We have an intelligent ape in our midst. Can't have that," the Master commented. "It's Harry and Cherie Duncan now. But I am glad that we've made an impact on her life enough for her to remember us."

"How could I forget? Truly tangible, horrid, evil. One doesn't forget that easily." She paused. "I was on trial as a witch. If that wasn't a hallucination, what the hell was it?"

"A test. We needed to make sure that the time travel device we restored worked as it was designed... well, with some much needed modifications to prevent it from being so limited in range. What is it with you humans anyway? You build something that hardly works and then use it on yourselves. Much more logical to test it on a lower animal first."

"This is pointless, Harry. Let me kill her. I could use the table saw instead if you don't want to use the belt sander."

Maggie looked to the woman with wide eyes. "No..." she stated, fear making her voice tremble along with her body.

"Far too bloody, my dear, especially when we still have some construction to do for aesthetic reasons," the Master countered his wife's plea. "I think that, since our new toy works, we should send Maggie to somewhere she would be most uncomfortable. We could send her back into that witch trial and have her burn at the stake. But then again, that really isn't as colorful as I would prefer and her suffering would be far too short."

"What did you have in mind then?" Peri asked.

"Jack the Ripper I think the apes of that time called him. Such a colorful name but he certainly wasn't as good at the job as I was, based on the videos I had made for you. Don't you think?"

"Yes, you were truly the master of dismemberment, dear." Peri sighed. "So, the Ripper gets to have all the fun."

"Well, not all the fun. Remember, we're on a deadline and I'm going to send someone back that you can work on as much as you want while I'm gone. Best part is you can be inventive to your heart's content without worrying about the subject dying on you."

Maggie was only partially relieved that she wouldn't be given to the lack of mercy this woman exhibited. The idea that she would be put into the body of someone that would be murdered by the Ripper was terrifying. Still, if she understood what was about to happen, her conversations with Sam had told her reality wasn't quite as set as she'd always believed. There was a chance she could survive this. However, hearing the gruesome couple's conversation, she realized they could only be talking about one being. "Jack? You're going to displace Jack?"

"You know, if she weren't on a lower level than you, my dear, you could almost swear she was almost as intelligent as you," the Gallifreyan commented. "Yes, Dr. Hawthorne. Captain Harkness is a most excellent person to displace for our purposes. He'll be at the right place and at the right time and my wife can have some fun, which is something she hasn't had in quite a while."

"You do care," she said smiling, her hand going to his chin to caress it.

"Of course, I do, _ma cherie_. I'd do anything for you, the woman who owns my hearts and saved my life more times than I can count."

She smiled once more before getting back to the business at hand. "So, who should we leap her into? Annie Chapman? Catherine Eddowes? I suppose it doesn't matter in the end."

"You two are demented," Margaret said in a horrified tone.

"Thank you," the Master stated with a bow. "Just thought you ought to know what awaits you on the other side." Turning to Peri, he guided her towards the door. "Come, my dear. Let's send the good rock doctor to the fate she so richly deserves."

To Margaret's credit she tried to run for the door and then fought her way tooth and nail as they pushed her back into the room. Peri hurried to reactivate the chamber while the Time Lord kept Margaret from escaping, sealing the door closed. Having anticipated the reluctance of the average human leaper, he had previously enabled the room to focus at any area of the chamber. Thus, as the energy level was brought to the optimum level for leap, the wave captured Margaret at the door and flung her back into the past and into the seedier side of 19th century London.

"The only reason I'm happy to see her go rather than torture her myself is that I know that she will suffer greatly," Peri stated as the woman was displaced. "I guess I'd better go let whoever's in Dr. Hawthorne's aura loose in 21st century Africa." It was clearly obvious she was disappointed.

The Master smiled. "I know you feel like I'm holding you back. Not letting you have your fun but you must understand, if you kill the whore from the past, it's possible that Dr. Hawthorne will switch places again and I want her to suffer mentally as well as physically. Not knowing when the Ripper will strike will install constant fear in her heart. In addition, If Dr. Hawthorne went completely missing, it will draw undo attention to our work. Better to have her colleagues think she somehow went off the deep end." He paused, a wicked smile coming to his lips. "Maybe they'll even send our guest from the past into a mental hospital. That would be just about perfect."

"I suppose a double blow against that bitch - tormenting her and ruining her reputation - is a fair form of revenge," the wife conceded. "And I do get Harkness to play with."

"Yes, you do. And since you can only hurt him and not kill him - at least not permanently - you can do things you've never been able to do before. Let your creativity run rampant."

She got a mischievous smile at the thought. "And what do I get to give you as an anniversary present in exchange for this?"

"Oh... I've got a few ideas. Most of them start with a little gift of lingerie I'll be providing as well as some ropes... maybe a few chains as well. I so love the sound as they rattle."

She laughed gently. "Well, all of that will have to wait until you get back... triumphant. Go on and get changed while I reset the system."

DWQLTWDWQLTW

 _Cardiff, United Kingdom_

 _December 2009_

The door to the TARDIS opened inwards allowing four very well fed travelers to enter. "Now that was a meal that delivered everything I could want... including a planned rendezvous with Alison after you leave."

"I had understood you were seeing someone," the Doctor commented.

"I'm always seeing someone... or two... or..."

"Of course, you are. I should have realized," came the sardonic response.

Jack just grinned back. "Always room for one more."

"I seriously doubt that you could handle me, Jack," the Gallifreyan told him, returning the smile. "Besides, you still haven't bought me that drink."

"A challenge! I like that!"

"Eww. Comments like that shouldn't be for public consumption," Sam put in.

Glad frowned in confusion as she listened to the exchange. "Am I missing something here?" She thought for a long moment before her eyes widened. "Doctor! You and Jack?! Eww! And I thought Boyne was bad!"

"See?" Sam said, his words confirmed by Glad's reaction.

"Relax, Sam," Jack said with a laugh. "I'm sure Glad has gotten used to my unique style. As for the Doctor, I'm actually surprised he reciprocated like in the old days."

"Oh, double eww," Glad cried.

"It wasn't like that, my dear," the Time Lord reassured. "Jack's referring to our banter when we were younger."

"Right. I never once believed that the Doctor would ever actually go there." The immortal man sighed dramatically. "Would have been nice, though."

"Okay... enough," Sam stated. "I want to get home and by your own words our staying is keeping your lady waiting so..." He looked to the Doctor. "Please tell me the TARDIS is ready to go."

"She's ready to go," the alien told him, clearly amused by Sam's discomfort. "Time for you to go, Jack. Stay out of trouble for the next few millennia..." Seeing disappointed surprise on Jack's face, he quickly amended, "or at least the next few months to avoid paradoxes."

"It better not be a millennia. I know you bounce all over time and creation but... I don't want another century to go by without seeing you at least occasionally. Okay?"

"We've already discussed my reasons for staying away which are now non-existent. You sure you don't want to come along?" he offered once again.

Jack shook his head. "Already told you, too much to do now. Maybe later." He looked over to Sam. "See you soon... back where you belong."

"Yeah," Sam answered. "Looking forward to it."

Glad went over and gave him a hug. "Goodbye, Jack. Don't be a stranger."

"Never. Remember your promise. You take care of him. I know Rose will too but, with a man like the Doctor, there's never too many to keep an eye on him."

She nodded in agreement as the immortal man gave a final salute and exited the TARDIS.

The remaining trio watched as Jack left before moving towards the console.

"Right, then. Now that we're properly fueled..." The Doctor tapped on the fuel gauge to confirm that the engines were full of artron energy to confirm his statement. A gentle hum came from the time ship in response to his actions. "... and the old girl is up to par, off to Quantum Leap we go."

As much as Sam wanted to return immediately to his own time, something occurred to him that needed to be corrected. "Umm… Doctor? What about Sir Alistair and Doris?"

"What about them?"

"We left them on a different planet for their protection, remember?"

The Time Lord stopped his actions at the physicist's words. "Right. Well, then, we'd better bring them home before taking you home, don't you think?"

"That's probably a good idea."

The Doctor turned to Sam and gave him a winning grin. "In that case… Allons-y!"


	23. Chapter 23

**Chapter 23**

 _Project Quantum Leap_

 _April 5, 2010_

The sensation of leaping wasn't like anything that the Master had experienced before. It wasn't all together horrible, he had to admit, even if it was time travel without a capsule. At least it wasn't as bad as it could have been if he hadn't adjusted all the parameters to ensure that he didn't suffer from any kind of amnesia or other uncomfortable side effects... at least he hoped they'd been eliminated. In any case, it was certainly not an experience he could ever get used to, though.

"Jack? You okay?" came a feminine voice, interrupting his ponderings.

"What?" he asked distracted. He noticed that he had a headache. So much for no side effects. He turned towards the female and frowned with slight disconcertion. The human in front of him seemed to keep shifting from male to female, only making the headache all the worse. "Oh, make up your mind," he grumbled.

"I said I was ready. Is there something else?"

"It would help me to think properly if you stopped changing genders."

"I thought you sort of liked that," she said with a grin. "What, you don't think me and my aura are deliciously gorgeous anymore?"

He huffed in disgust. "As if I'd be attracted to you."

A pout came to her face, mirroring her feelings. "What did I do?"

He gave her a thin tight smile. "You're just not my type. I prefer intelligent superior beings, not tiny little humans."

"You bastard," Rose stated. "Here I thought we were friends but obviously all that traveling around with you meant nothing? Just because you're immortal now doesn't mean that you're not human and you're just as tiny and little as me. What the hell has gotten into you, Jack?"

"Oh, a much better being, that's for certain." He noticed the table was mirrored and went over to it, looking into it. "I've seen many faces in my time but this one..." he trailed off with a shiver going up his spine. "Still, it is necessary."

Seeing his reaction to his own reflection, the blond human frowned with concern. "Maybe you should talk to Dr. Beeks or something. You're really freaking me out right now. Like you completely lost your mind or something. Or maybe..." Her eyes widened as another possibility came to her. Perhaps her friend was acting strangely all of a sudden because he wasn't her friend anymore. "Who are you?"

The Master reached over and grabbed her wrist, causing the aura around him to vanish from her sight. She gasped in surprise, seeing cruel eyes and a scarred face. What really struck her was how ancient and dangerous his eyes were. They reminded her of the Doctor when the Oncoming Storm came out. Only they were far more terrifying and were completely mad.

"I'm your worst nightmare," he whispered menacingly. Seeing that he'd had the proper effect on her - she was clearly frightened now - he raised his hand and placed it on the side of her head. He smiled broadly as he read her mind, clearly pleased with what he found there. "Go to sleep," he ordered, reaching deep to force her to obey his command.

A moment later, Rose slumped into his arms, unconscious. He gave a little huff as he dropped her on the floor. "Pleasant dreams, Rose Tyler," he commented before turning to the door. Not seeing any way to exit, he closed his eyes and thought for a moment, pulling from the memories of his host. "Let me out," he ordered.

As the door opened, he smiled. As much as he hated being in this monstrous body, it did have one major advantage. He knew where he was and how to get to where he wanted to be. "Auxiliary Control. Perfect. They'll never know what hit them," he said to himself as he happily headed down a corridor to complete the mission he'd set for himself.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

 _Bonzenland, Africa_

 _May 2019_

Peri watched her husband sparkle in dazzling hues of orange. She smiled as the wave of electrical charge slipped away from the leapee before he collapsed to the floor of the small chamber. The moment that happened, the scientist clicked on a timer, ensuring that she didn't go beyond the already prearranged rendezvous time. She then grabbed two canisters and a long length of rope before going to the chamber and opening the door, already anticipating the fun she would have with the leapee. The moment she gazed on the figure in the chamber, however, she froze. She had known ahead of time that Jack Harkness would have the aura of her husband around him. But there was a big difference between knowing something and seeing it firsthand. Looking over her shoulder at the instruments she had so carefully laid out in preparation of this moment, she cringed as her imagination filled in what she would see if she used them on Harkness. She wouldn't see Jack screaming and begging for mercy; she'd see Harry. And that was one thing she knew she would not be able to live with.

Turning back to the man in the chamber, she made a quick decision. Just because she couldn't bear seeing her beloved's face in agony didn't mean that she couldn't hurt Jack in a different way. Putting on the mask that she had ready for her plans, she walked into the room.

The man looked up, confusion on his face at the masked figure. "What the..." Giving into the fatigue he was feeling, he fell back, leaning against the wall and trying desperately to regain his bearings. Something was wrong... very wrong but he wasn't able to pull two brain cells together to figure it out. He asked plaintively, "Where am I?"

"You're in our base of operations, Captain Harkness," she responded as she raised the first canister. "And I really can't afford you being trouble for me."

Before the impossible man could react, she sprayed the contents into Jack's face, causing him to cough violently. He tried several times to reach towards her to stop her actions but she remained quick on her feet, moving away from his attempts to subdue her while preventing him from leaving the small containment area. After a couple of minutes, his eyes closed as his body relaxed, pooling on the floor of the chamber.

"Oh, that was too easy. The magnificent Captain Harkness reduced to Sleeping Beauty in a matter of second," she prattled sarcastically. Needing to prepare him, she used the ropes to secure his wrists and ankles. Satisfied that his restraints would hold, she readied a second canister but stopped short of using it, instead gazing upon the unconscious aura of her husband. Seeing all of the pain and concern erased from his face, she couldn't help but give the man a kiss and was surprised when the lips she touched with her own responded in kind. She pulled away quickly, angry at the movement with the knowledge that this man was not who he appeared to be. She released the contents of the second canister to bring him back to consciousness.

"Wake up, you son of a bitch!" she quietly screamed at him, bitterness in her voice.

Jack didn't know what to make of the situation he was in. He wasn't able to remember how he'd gotten here, but he did remember the feel of sensual lips pressing against his. Looking at the seething woman in front of him, he hazarded a guess. "Kinky sex at an S&M Club?"

"In your dreams, asshole," she growled at him before marching a short distance to retrieve a chair. Slamming it a few feet from him, she sat down and crossed her legs, glaring at him.

"It'd be more exiting if you had on leather, doll." He looked lustfully along her body. "A tight cat-suit maybe. You've got the figure for it."

"Keep ogling me and I might just change my mind about my original plans and you really wouldn't like that." It was disconcerting to see the man in front of her with the same look her Harry would give her when he was aroused and ready to act on it. Equally attracted and repulsed, she knew she had to turn the tide. "Bet you are wondering how you got in this predicament."

"Not really. It's so much more fun to play out the scene. You're hot and I like the bondage aspect."

"Wouldn't you like to know what's going to happen to your friends? The pain they're going to feel? The agony that your actions have brought to them?"

In the questions, Jack felt a surge of trepidation creep up his spine. All thoughts of sexual pleasures left his mind. "My friends? Which friends? What are you going to do?"

"All of your friends, actually, starting with Project Quantum Leap. You see, my husband really doesn't like it when someone messes with us and you and your friends have done that. In fact, you've completely ruined all of our plans. And so... we are going to completely ruin _you_."

"Who are you? I don't know..." The shadows of memories began to dance behind his eyes. He'd seen this woman before but when? "Cardiff. Changed the hair and your eye color, a couple more scars but... you were the woman in Cardiff that survived Marcus and his gang. The one... the one..." He closed his eyes trying to remember. It was important. "The one all those horribly brutal murders were because of."

"I didn't murder those men," she said though there wasn't a bit of defensiveness in her voice. "I can't help it if the man who loves me is a little... overprotective."

"That man was..." He knew the answer was at the tip of his tongue... if he could just remember. "Gallifreyan symbols. They were left at the butchering sites. As a message to..." Then he knew and his face paled, "...the Doctor."

"Actually, they were to both the Doctor and UNIT. But who's keeping score? I'm surprised you remember even that. Time travel is such a bitch on the mind. Good thing my husband has a more advanced biology."

"Time travel." Jack looked down towards his bound wrists to see if he had his vortex manipulator on. Instead, he saw hands that weren't his. The hairs on the arms were the wrong color. The shape and length of the fingers weren't right. "Aura?" he questioned to himself in a whisper.

"Ding ding ding!" she exclaimed at the realization. "You just won second prize. You can win first prize if you can finish connecting the dots in the next sentence."

He remembered she'd mentioned Project Quantum Leap. How could she know about that if he'd leapt? And he wouldn't have leapt to the project. He was clearly in a Waiting Room, but it wasn't right. For one, it was extremely small, barely even the size of a large closet. He'd read every schematic concerning Quantum Leap, studied every drawing... even if he couldn't remember all of it at the moment. What he did remember didn't jive with any of this. It certainly didn't jive with the ropes around his wrists and ankles.

He continued to puzzle it out and turned it around. What if he hadn't been the leaper? What if he was the leapee? They must have used Sam's project somehow. That's how she'd know about it. But nothing about this place fit and Lothos's project had been destroyed. "How?" he asked her. His head was pounding and there were gaps in his mind. "Who displaced me?"

Standing regally, she strode towards him, shaking her head. "Poor Jack. No first prize for you, I guess. How? My husband's brilliance at rebuilding the prototype of a defunct time travel experiment. Who?" She leaned over him so that she could whisper in his ear. "Your lord and Master."

Another memory filled in a gap. The explosion, Glad's pendant being pulled from his neck, the look in the monster's eyes that said it wasn't over... that it would never be over as long as he took breath. "The Master?" the ex-Time Agent posited. Remembering the horrors the man had engaged in, Jack found his head reeling as nausea threatened to overtake him. Suddenly he knew exactly who the woman before him was… and what she was capable of. Fear for his friends became paramount in his mind. "No!" he moaned.

Peri chuckled at his predicament. "Oh, yes. My beloved doesn't take too well to being nearly killed," she told him as she returned to her seat. "I can't wait to see the smile on his face when he finishes our first act of vengeance." She seemed to think for a moment. "You know what? I feel like watching a movie. You want to watch a movie? It always makes me feel so much better. Now... where did I leave that film projector?" she questioned as she stood and walked out of the small room. A couple of minutes later, she returned with a box approximately the size of an old VCR only to find Jack struggling against his ropes. "Ah, ah, ah!" she berated, putting the box on the chair and plugging it into an extension cord. "No struggling against your bonds. One might think that you didn't want to be here. Besides, you're only giving yourself rope burns." Finding a comfortable position on the floor, she aimed the projector towards a blank wall. Then using the remote she'd pulled from her jacket pocket, she turned on the projector. The pictures on the wall were from the Master's record of the killings in Cardiff. "Oh, such wonderful things he's done just for me. But these men had it easy compared to what my beloved has in store for your friends. I should get some popcorn and soda. A movie is so much better with popcorn and soda."

Imagination can be a powerful weapon when wielded properly and this woman was an expert at using it. All Jack could picture in his mind was his friends and colleagues at the project being systematically and brutally destroyed at his aura's hands. Knowing his visage would be the last thing his friends would see as they died, Jack found the horror to be too much. The nausea finally won out as he heaved the contents of his stomach out on the floor.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

 _Project Quantum Leap_

 _April 5, 2010_

The Master whistled happily as he walked down the halls, gaining smiles from all he passed. Although he found Jack to be an abomination, it was apparent that the stupid apes he worked with actually liked the man. "No accounting for taste," he murmured to himself when no one was around to hear.

It took only a few minutes for him to reach the Auxiliary Control Room. The room was expansive but not nearly as much as the Control Room several levels down. Along every inch of wall was computer equipment of all kind, none of which resembled the impressive multi-colored control console.

"Captain Harkness? Is there something you need?" a pleasant but slightly arrogant voice asked from everywhere and nowhere.

The Master looked around the room, giving a slight smile at the voice. "Artificial intelligence, I suppose. Not at all like HAL."

"HAL? Of course I'm nothing like HAL. That was a seriously flawed fictional computer intelligence. When Dr. Beckett wrote my programming... in this very room... he assured that I would be the type of computer he could count on. I am surprised that you would make such a cultural reference and comparison. And your choice of saying 'I suppose' is certainly suspect, considering you know exactly what I am."

"He wrote your programming in here?" he asked derisively, ignoring the computer's observations.

There was pride in the computer's voice. "Yes. I was created here. My father said that this project was his dream and I was his greatest creation." She paused. "Do you not remember he infused his own brain cells into my matrix?"

"Sounds vaguely familiar," the Gallifreyan commented as he looked around the room. "Can you see and hear everything throughout this complex?"

"Is something wrong, Captain?" The computer actually sounded concerned.

"Not in the least. However, with all the changes that have occurred of late, I just want to make sure that everything is the way it should be. Humor me."

"A strange request but I suppose it wouldn't hurt to... humor you. Yes. I am connected to all sections of the facility."

"Perfect," he replied, a wicked grin on his face as he moved towards the central console in the room.

The concern in the voice grew greater. "As you say, there have been some significant changes. Perhaps there has been a delay on the effect of leaping on your mental processes from the events six months ago. I believe that the Admiral should be informed of your memory loss."

"Only one problem with that," he stated as began typing on the keyboard available, the means to interface Ziggy's systems in cases of emergency. "There is nothing affecting my memory. Well, nothing that a little TLC from my beloved won't take care of." He quickly went through the mainframe and found the program that controlled Ziggy's personality. "My my my... you are very complicated, aren't you. Can't just shut you off, can I?"

"Shut me..." the voice interface began to fail, resulting in static to replace words. "Why wo..."

"It certainly would be easier if I could. After all, I could simply take over this complex if I were in complete control of your faculties. But you are almost as complicated as Lothos. Not quite but almost." He realized that he wouldn't have long before Peri was ready to pull him back. "Besides, I don't have time for that. That would take... oh... six hours fourteen minutes and a few odd seconds. I've only got an hour. Well, forty-three minutes."

As he was typing, Ziggy realized that other functions than her voice were being affected, a confirmation of the suspicions she had about the Captain, that he was not Captain Harkness at all. The static grew worse, allowing her only a slow, "W..ho aaaare y..ou?"

"I think you can figure that out on your own, don't you? Super hybrid computer created by a human genius. I'll give him that. Not a typical ape at all. That being said, I really can't have you being a tattle-tale and informing Admiral Calavicci that this project is about to go bang. And since I can't just shut you off, I'll just have to make sure you can't do anything about it." He gave a little laugh. "Funny. I called your counterpart HAL but here I'm being Dave, pulling your proverbial plug. I _should_ be calling you HAL. Just need to isolate you so that you can't interfere. Pity. Can't seem to shut off your ability to watch. Maybe you can record the explosion for posterity. But, then again, there wouldn't be a video left to share." He frowned. "Sad that. Peri would love to add one to her video library. I'll just have to be satisfied with the fact you're all being blown into dust, compliments of the Master and his bride."


	24. Chapter 24

**Chapter 24**

 _Project Quantum Leap_

 _April 5, 2010_

The view in the Imaging Chamber gave way to blue walls, bringing to Al the joy that he felt the first time Sam leapt into Tom Stratton, proving that Quantum Leap worked. At that time, the entire project had been excited about Sam's theories being proved correct but then... there was the discovery that the retrieval program didn't work and Sam was the only one that had a snowball's chance in hell of fixing it. That was effectively deep sixed by the Swiss-cheese nature of the leaper's mind. Since that day, the blue walls of the Imaging Chamber stood as a tangible reminder that Sam Beckett's chance of returning home were growing slimmer and slimmer with each leap. Now, the feeling of elation returned because the blue walls were an affirmation that Sam would be coming home very soon. That was, of course, if the Doctor lived up to his word and, at this point, Al was willing to bet everything that he would.

Stepping out of the chamber, Al practically danced down the ramp into the Control Room. "Any minute now," he said aloud, bouncing on the balls of his feet with anticipation. "Where's Jack? He was right. The Doctor's going to fix this! Sam's coming home!"

Gooshie, who had been closely monitoring the conversation in the Imaging Chamber on Al's end, could easily understand the Admiral's excitement. He himself was grinning broadly with anticipation for Sam's return. "Last that I heard, he was heading towards Auxiliary Control. I haven't heard about his location since."

"Really? Well, he and Ziggy do seem to enjoy their conversations but I thought he wanted to keep Rose company." He started to ask the computer about Jack when a groaning, ripping sound filled the room, causing the Admiral's grin to widen and the question to be dropped.

"What is that noise?" Gooshie questioned, grimacing. "Sounds like a tractor being flattened by a rusty car crusher."

Al's grin grew into a brilliant smile. "That, Gooshie, is the most beautiful sound in the world. That is the sound of Dr. Beckett's ride home."

As the sound continued, a blue police box materialized seemingly out of nowhere at the far end of the large room, its light flashing as it solidified. Gooshie stared in amazement at the sight before him as the door to the police box opened, allowing three people to exit.

"Ah! Pinpoint landing! Sorry about the delay. Had to give a couple of friends a ride home. And then Doris insisted that we stay for tea, bless her. So this is Project Quantum Leap." The first person to come out of the police box, a brown-haired lanky man, went over to Gooshie. "And you must be Gooshie!" He grabbed the programmer's hand and shook it vigorously. "Hello, I'm the Doctor. This is Galadriel and... well... you know our friend, don't you?"

Eyes wide, Gooshie shook the hand of the Doctor. "I've heard a lot about you. Pleasure to meet you. Really pleased." He gave a nod to Glad in greeting, causing the girl to wave in return. At the request to look at the third person, Gooshie did so, seeing the young woman before him. "Um. No. I don't believe I've had the honor of making her acquaintance."

"But... it's Sam! You don't recognize Sam?" The Doctor turned to look towards the person in question. "Admittedly, he does look a little feminine at the moment. But we can solve that problem quite easily."

"Sam?" Gooshie asked. "It's really you, Doctor Beckett?"

"Yeah, Gooshie, it's me." He turned to Al, grabbing his shoulder. "Al... you're really here. I'm really here. We're both really here together!" He pulled the older man into a bear hug. There were tears streaming down his face as he exclaimed, "I'd grown to believe this would never happen."

The Italian returned the hug, tightening his hold on the physicist as he did so. "You're home, Sam. It's real," he assured.

The two old friends continued to hug each other for a few more minutes before the Doctor spoke up. "Done with the hugs? I'm all for hugs. Love them, in fact. But, I think hugs would be better if everyone was in their own aura, don't you?"

Sam looked up, realizing the Doctor was absolutely correct. Being back at the project, he'd forgotten for the moment that technically, he was still on a leap and as such, not exactly himself to all other eyes. Brushing the tears away, he nodded. "Sure. Sorry... I just... it's just..." He took a breath, "...I'm home." he said with finality.

"Yes, you are. And let's make sure it stays that way," the Time Lord stated. "How about starting with that retrieval program of yours?"

"Which one do you want to see?" Gooshie offered.

The Gallifreyan frowned in confusion. "How many retrieval programs have you got?"

The red-haired programmer explained. "We've tried fixing it so many times, hoping to bring Doctor Beckett home that we're in alpha-numerical revision mode."

"So... ten? Twenty?"

"We passed the fortieth revision two years ago."

"Blimey," the Doctor exhaled, glancing over at Sam. "No wonder the bloody thing doesn't work. Probably looks like Chinese and Italian leftovers all in one box by now."

"Oh, that sounds really good right now," Glad piped in. "Anyone for Chinese? I love Chinese food." She glanced towards the TARDIS. "Maybe I should make something for everybody." Seeing that no one seemed to be paying attention to her, she sighed. "Or just make myself something," she murmured under her breath as she went back into the timeship, still unnoticed.

"It's not their fault," Sam defended the Doctor's assessment of the retrieval program. "They've done the best they could."

"I'm sure they did. But now you've got me. I'm brilliant at sorting Italian from Chinese." He gave a toothy grin before turning again to Gooshie. "Show me all of it."

"All of them? It'll take hours... days... months..." the programmer stuttered.

"Just do it, Gooshie," Sam stated confidently. "I think you'll find the Doctor more than capable of figuring it out effectively... and in much less time than expected." He turned to the Gallifreyan. "Whatever you need."

Gooshie shook his head slightly, heading for the control console, the Doctor following. Tapping a few buttons on the console, he brought up the file that held the retrieval program and all its revisions.

"Ooo, nice work surface," the Time Lord commented. "Sort of like having an oversized iPad."

"That was one of Jack's additions," Al pointed out.

"And yet you still need a keyboard for inputting," the Doctor noted as if Al hadn't said anything. "Well, it's better than working with DOS." He pointed to a file folder on the screen. "Is this it, then?"

"Yes." Gooshie touched it. Four files were in the master file. "The first is the pre-revision work that Dr. Beckett worked on. The second file is the first revision... the one in place when he leapt. The third has the revisions up to the major change... when Sam leapt into himself... or at least as best that Ziggy knows about those. The last is the work performed since the change."

"I'm going to assume that Samuel has better knowledge about this program than the rest of you and so I'll take a look at what you all did first," the Gallifreyan said, mostly to himself. Tapping the shortcut into the program, he pulled out his spectacles and perched them on his nose as he studied the program as it was currently. A minute later, his nose scrunched, showing a mixture of disconcertion and surprise. "Who wrote this thing? This couldn't retrieve a pizza from the local pizzeria."

Gooshie's head jerked up. "We've been trying to learn from each of the leaps. Rewrites have been discussed among the team and run through multiple supercomputer scenarios before they were put into place."

"Well, I suppose that you did the best you could but it's still rubbish. Not all of it, mind you. There are some brilliant things in here." He seemed to consider the program for a long moment before highlighting large sections of the document and deleting them, leaving only a fragment of what had been there left.

"What are you doing?" Gooshie questioned with a hint of panic in his voice. "That took months to write!"

"I believe Samuel said that I could have carte blanche concerning rewriting this program," came the confident answer as the Gallifreyan continued to go through the file at a rapid pace.

As the Doctor spoke with the chief programmer, Sam noticed lights flickering on one of the consoles. He turned to Al. "Have you changed anything with the Morelli Manipulator?"

"Not that I know of," Al responded, surprised by Sam's question. "Jack might have made some changes recently but I seriously doubt it. He's never made any changes without running it by me first as a courtesy."

"Then... there's something wrong." The physicist went over to a panel on the other side of the room and watched the lights frantically flashing in a strange sequence. Going into the programming, he scanned for signs of the problem.

The Doctor, in the meantime, was running a verbal commentary on all he was looking at. "Brilliant. Brilliant. Rubbish. Rubbish. Rubbish. Ooo, nice! Utter rubbish..."

Suddenly Sam's back straightened perceptively. "Ohhhhh, boy... not good."

"Ha!" exclaimed the Time Lord with a wide grin, a sharp contrast to the worried look on Sam's face.

Al looked over at Sam, his face showing concern. "What's not good, Sam?"

"If what I'm seeing here is..." He kept reviewing lines of programming. "Give me a minute to confirm my suspicions."

Gooshie in the meantime answered the Doctor's exclamation. "You can fix it?"

"Oh, yes! Who is this Sammie Jo Fuller? He's brilliant! So close! Just need to integrate these revisions into the original program, make a few coding adjustments... Should take... oh... ten minutes?"

"She's a she, actually," Gooshie informed him. "She came up with several concepts on how to revise the retrieval program but, unfortunately, she wasn't with us for long. Surprising considering."

"Considering what?"

"Well... her relationship to Dr. Beckett. She's his daughter. We were sure that she would stick it through. But when Dr. Elesee left and Captain Harkness had to make cut backs in personnel, she voluntarily quit. She said it was for the benefit of the project, that it was more important to keep it running than to keep her on staff. I have been in contact with her, getting more revisions on a semi-regular basis. We just don't have the manpower we used to have in order to make the necessary tests before implementing the changes."

"Typical," the alien stated. "It always comes down to money and manpower." Without further word, he started to make the changes he had said he would make.

Sam finished his review. "This is likely a first for her. To all practical purposes, Ziggy's been gagged and duct-taped to a chair. The lights have been her way to tell us that," Sam explained to Al. "Doctor," he called out, "you better come see this."

"A bit busy, Samuel," the Time Lord replied, his eyes still on the computer screen. Feeling the physicist's eyes on him, he sighed, finished the part he was on, and then turned towards him. "I would think that getting you in your own aura would be top priority for you after all these years." He moved over to stand beside Sam. "What is it?"

"Someone's been working on Ziggy's programming. The logs say that it's Jack's handiwork, but... I think something else is going on." He pointed to the screen with the programming. "Look."

The Gallifreyan frowned at the changing programming on the screen. "What the hell did he do?" he questioned, obviously concerned. Gently pushing Sam out of the way, he pulled out his sonic screwdriver and started buzzing away at the panel. "If I can just make a few adjustments to the programming... reestablish the loose connections... There we go! Hello, Ziggy!" he greeted with a broad grin, knowing from the programming he'd just witnessed - and corrected - that the hybrid computer had full communications ability.

"Doctor." The female intonations of the computer were tense. "We're all being blown into dust, compliments of the Master and his bride."

"What?" the Time Lord asked with trepidation.

"That's what he said. I've been trying to tell you all. That's what the Master said. He's planning on destroying us all."

"How did the Master get into the complex?" Al questioned before realization came to him. "Somehow he found a way to leap into Jack. But how could the Master leap into Jack?"

Sam spoke up. "Unless there's a third project out there, the Master has to be using Lothos's system..."

"But you all destroyed that," the chief programmer argued.

The leaper agreed, "Yes... we destroyed the Prometheus Institute. But what if they..." He began to pace as he talked, "...resurrected it somehow. Rebuilt it. Maybe even solved the memory problem..."

"None of that would be difficult for him if he had the proper equipment and enough time," the Doctor commented.

"He'd still have to have information about Quantum Leap just to access Ziggy," Gooshie informed them. "There are complicated back-ups and passcodes protecting the system."

"If I can rewrite years of programming in ten minutes, the Master can break into your computer system in less time than that. And if Ziggy's warning is as dire as it sounds, we really don't have time to get all philosophical on the issue," the Doctor stated rapidly before quickly going back to the control console. He reduced the programming he'd been working on and brought up a list of the most recent changes to the system. A moment later, his eyes widened. "No no no no no! Sam, get everyone in the TARDIS!"

"What's wrong?" the physicist questioned. When the Doctor didn't immediately answer, he stated firmly, "There are more people than the ones here. Unless we have a good hour, there's no way to get them all into the TARDIS."

The Gallifreyan looked up at Sam upon hearing his words, worry for the other people in the complex clear on his face. "A good hour?" he questioned with a swallow.

"Yes. To get them to the TARDIS. Just tell me what's wrong?"

"Oh, Sam," came the response, sadness in his voice. "Your radium ring is about to fail."

The blink the physicist made took a split second before he went into motion. "Gooshie... all project siren, Code AHBL. Get everyone down into the bedrock and into the shelters." He turned to Al. "We'll need to seal them in as soon as everyone gets in..."

"You've got shelters?" the Doctor questioned. "Of course you have shelters! Because you're clever! You would have planned for something like this! Well, not exactly like this but you get the point."

"Yeah. I wasn't about to take my project team with me if my project really went... ca-ca," Sam stated. He called out to the other control room personnel. "Do what the Doctor says... everyone into the TARDIS. And yes...it's bigger on the inside so no one come back out to verify it. Gooshie, get everyone out of the Waiting Room area into the TARDIS as well. The shelter's are too far in comparison."

The moment that he knew that the staff of Quantum Leap was in good hands - as if he ever had any real doubts on the matter - the Doctor quickly refocused on the terminal in front of him, typing frantically to try to avert the coming cataclysm, talking to himself as he did so. "No. No. Oh, he's clever," he complimented with gritted teeth, showing admiration while, at the same time, despising the act.

Once Gooshie left the room, the physicist turned to Al. "Once you have everyone sealed in..." He never finished his sentence. An electrical blue light started to cover him, gaining the Doctor attention immediately.

"No no no no no!" he cried out, taking several steps towards the physicist. Before he could do anything, the blue light vanished, revealing Rose Tyler standing there, confusion on her face.

"What... what's going on?" she questioned.

Al stared at the person in front of him. There was no doubt this was not Sam, but Rose Tyler complete. "Sam's leapt..." he stated, his voice expressing his shock and sadness at the turn of events.

"I'm sorry," the Doctor told him. "I really am but we don't have time for regrets. Get the rest of your people to safety." He hurried back to the console to continue his work at preventing the project from being destroyed.

Knowing that the Time Lord was right, the Admiral took a deep breath and refocused his efforts, directing project personnel either to the TARDIS or the shelters. Within minutes of Sam's initial order, Al entered the code that would assure the project personnel were safely sealed in. All the rest of the personnel except Gooshie, the Doctor, Rose, and Al were in the TARDIS.

Rose blinked as she watched the activity in the room, clearly confused by not only her surroundings but all the excitement around her. "Doctor? What... what happened? I was... somewhere," she said, clearly uncertain about her words.

"In the Waiting Room, actually. And now you're back in your own aura, right on time. Albert there is being brilliant getting people in safe areas while I am trying to stop Project Quantum Leap from going up in a nuclear meltdown."

Suddenly the words he'd spoken seeped through. "Nuclear meltdown?"

"Yeah. Big bang. Things melting. Large mushroom cloud..." Al stated from the second console.

The Doctor picked up on the statement, "...radioactive fallout that will irradiate the area for years to come and spread to nearby cities and/or other residential locations, causing radiation sickness and some deaths. Doesn't help that the vicinity is already a little radioactive from the Trinity bomb being set off decades ago. Good thing we're around to stop it," the Doctor added.

Rose took a breath, looking around the room, clearly still a little confused but willing to accept the situation she suddenly found herself in. "I guess we should get on it then. What do you need me to do?"


	25. Chapter 25

**Chapter 25**

 _Bonzenland, Africa_

 _May 2019_

The sounds of screams and pleading filled the small room, echoes of a time long past but not forgotten. Peri, slightly disappointed in Harkness' inability to hold his stomach, decided to leave him alone in misery for a while but placed the projector high on a wall, allowing the videos to continue to run consecutively but preventing the immortal man from stopping their display on the opposite wall.

Jack lay miserably on the floor. He moved as far away from the mess he'd made as he could although that wasn't far, given the size of the room and his lack of mobility. He wanted to shut off the videos. While he could close his eyes, the screams continued to drill in his brain. It was sheer torture to hear the savagery. He called out to Peri in the other room. "Please, don't. What do you want? Please don't hurt them. I was the one that set off the explosion. I should be the one to suffer, not them."

After a minute, the door opened again to reveal his tormentor. She grimaced slightly at the stench in the room. "Ugh. Can't let my husband come back to that mess you made. I'd make you clean it up but I can't trust you out of those ropes you're in." She sighed and then walked away from the room, returning a couple of minutes later with rubber gloves, a bucket of soapy water and a rag. Cleaning up Jack's sick quickly, she put the cleaning supplies just outside the door before bringing in her chair once again to take a seat. "There. Much better, don't you think?"

The video had continued playing. "Not until you turn this off. I know what he's capable of. I was at each of these places after he finished." He then looked at her again. "You don't need to do this."

"Of course, we do," she returned with a smile, letting the film continue. "Can't allow you and your friends to interfere with us again. Better to get them out of the way. You and the Doctor, on the other hand, will be far more difficult. Since we can't exactly kill you, we can remind you of the consequences of messing with us."

"That's what this is about?" Anger permeated the immortal. "You were going to enslave Earth. What did you expect? That no one would try to stop you?"

"You nearly killed my husband and you changed him!" she growled angrily. "He never hit me before. Not once. But then he was irradiated by lantoni radiation thanks to you. Do you know what that does to a Time Lord's mind? Do you?"

"I have a pretty good idea," Jack growled out. "I wish he had died... even though the Doctor was glad he survived. You're both monsters."

She leaned forward in her chair. "We're both entrepreneurs and we know our positions in this world. We were meant to rule and we're going to. All the great rulers have had to be monsters to establish control. Julius Caesar, Alexander the Great, Genghis Khan... Believe me, I would love to reenact what my beloved has done for me with you but I need him back without complications."

"How long will I have to endure this?" he asked. Inwardly another question was more poignant. 'How long would they suffer at the Master's hand?'

She pulled out the stopwatch she had set before and looked at it. "This particular session... about thirty minutes. But the after effects will haunt you the rest of your long eternal life." She put the watch away. "You will never be free of us, Jack Harkness. We will haunt you for decades. No one you love will ever be safe. For the rest of your life, you will be wondering whether or not your friends and family are being tortured and murdered, paying the cost for what you did to us."

Jack writhed at the ropes. "I won't let you," he growled out. "I don't know how, but I'll find a way to stop you."

"Rope burns," she reminded, her voice almost maternal.

"I don't care if it breaks open his wrists and causes him to bleed to death," Jack cried out, continuing to try to get free.

"I told you, no rope burns!" she cried out. Although she wanted to torture him further, his active plan to hurt her husband - though the chances were slight given the nature of quantum leaping - changed the plan once more. Marching from the room, she came back a minute later with a hypodermic and shot him full of a sedative. "No rope burns," she repeated as he passed into unconsciousness. Taking a deep breath, she considered his form for a moment. Given that she would be retrieving her beloved in less than thirty minutes, she decided that she had actively tortured his mind enough - the sights and sounds of the films would continue to do the work without her aide. Untying her prisoner, she then proceeded to remove the ropes and projector from the room. Making sure that only Harkness remained in the chamber, she closed the door and pulled out the stopwatch. Fifteen more minutes and her husband would once again be in her arms.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

 _Project Quantum Leap_

 _April 5, 2010_

The Doctor was typing frantically on the console, Rose and Al by his side to help in any way that they could. Al had sent Gooshie into the TARDIS with an order to keep the mix of ten curious scientists and five Marine Guards in line and out of the inner workings of the alien spacecraft.

"The Master bypassed the main controls, blocking them off from here," the Gallifreyan stated in rapid succession, voicing his thoughts as he worked. "But if I can access the control of the auxiliary programs to the radium containment field..." He groaned in frustration. "He isn't making it easy. Rose, the sonic. Setting 3821." He ignored the sensation of her hand digging into his inside jacket pocket to find the device, still intent on his lightning fast finger-pacing. "Use it on the bright red flashing wire underneath." He waited for a moment to see if there was a result. "Not that one. The other one."

"There _is_ no other one!" Rose countered vehemently.

"Well, what's red and flashy down there?"

"Don't you know what you're doing?" Al asked, a nervous tinge to his voice. "I thought you knew what to do!"

"Oi! I didn't build this thing, you know," the Doctor protested, still typing at the console.

"Well, I did." He crawled under the console with Rose but called up to the Time Lord after a quick scan of the underside. "Are you attempting to reinitiate the Fourier Bridge to its default setting?"

"Oh, you're brilliant! Yes, I am. Well, not actually the default. That's why I want her to use setting 3821."

"Whatever," Al finished. He pointed to an area that had a series of lights flashing in a pattern. "There, aim that sonic thingy at that," he told Rose.

"Sonic thingy?" she questioned with a hint of amusement in her voice as she followed the instruction.

"Hey... you knew what I was talking about, right?" All of the sudden, the area began sparking. "Oh, shit!" the Admiral exclaimed. "Move!" The two scrambled out of the console to avoid being hurt by the conclave of electricity.

Even as they found themselves pressed against the wall as far from the console as they could get - which wasn't far enough in Al's opinion, the Doctor gave a triumphant, "HA!"

"HA? HA? You almost killed us down there! I thought you knew what setting 38-whatever would do!"

The Time Lord blinked at him with befuddlement. "It did the job, didn't it?"

"Did it?" Al pushed back. "Or was getting us singed just a prelude to having our molecules torn asunder?"

"If the Doctor says it did the job then it did the job," Rose defended. "Why are you being so... obstinate?"

"Because the last words from my friend's mouth was to keep everyone safe," Al said, his jaw clenched tightly.

"And you succeeded beautifully," the Gallifreyan complimented with the beginning of a brilliant smile. "Albert Calavicci and Rose Tyler! What a team!"

"So... no big bang?" Al asked for clarification.

"No big bang but the one at the beginning of the universe... and Trinity Site... and Hiroshima and Nagasaki... and Priemta Vore and the Far Rings of Hirwew..."

"Don't forget Bikini Atoll," Al pointed out. "But I get the picture."

"Bikini Atoll is nowhere near Priemta Vore," Rose commented with a grin.

"I don't even want to know," Al stated.

A gentle laugh came from her as she extended her hand to Al. "Formal introductions. Rose Tyler." She blinked at him for a moment, obviously trying to remember something. "Do I... know you? I mean, other than as the person I spent a whole minute smushed against under a giant computer."

Al looked at the Doctor, not sure how his explanation would be taken by the young woman. "This is a first for me. I've never talked to a leapee after a leap. Only during it. Maybe it would be better for you to explain since you know her better."

"All right," the Gallifreyan agreed. "Budge over then."

"Better yet, I think I'd better try and do some damage control. He's still out there," Al finished his voice ominous. He knew that Rose knew Jack well and the last thing he needed was to confuse her more at this point.

"The Master can't do much anymore. I've completely locked him out of the system. You should be able to find him easily enough," the Time Lord assured him.

Al gave a nod of acknowledgement. "Good." The ex-military man started to walk to the TARDIS. "I need to retrieve a few people for the search."

"Al," the Doctor called after him. When the visually older man turned, he asked with a furrowed brow, "Code AHBL?"

"All Hell Breaking Loose," came the reply. Then the man smiled. "I suggested Code OS for 'Oh Shit' but Sam didn't like the vulgarity."

"Code AHBL... Code OS..." the Gallifreyan pondered the words and then grinned. "Well...both certainly fit the situation. OS is inherently more dramatic, though." His grin widened. "I like dramatic," he complimented.

"That I've seen in spades," Al finished as he opened the door to the blue box. "Hernandez... stop that!" he called out as the door closed behind him.

The Doctor raised an eyebrow at the exclamation before shrugging slightly, knowing that Al would take care of anything that might happen. Not that anything really could happen that the TARDIS wouldn't allow. But it still was disconcerting to know that the humans in his fabulous ship might have been getting into trouble he wouldn't approve of. Hearing a slight chuckle from behind refocused his thoughts to the woman who had made the lovely sound and as such to one of the reasons Al had left them on their own. Turning, he walked over to her side before sitting beside her with a soft smile. "Hello," he greeted gently.

"Hello," she responded, returning the smile. "So, who was the nice old guy in the awful clothing?"

"Albert's not that old," the Doctor defended the Italian. Seeing the look on her face, he continued, "Rear-Admiral Albert Calavicci, retired, holographic observer for Project Quantum Leap."

"He seemed to know me."

"I imagine he does, considering the amount of time you've been in his care," came the soft answer.

"The amount of time..." Rose started before her eyes became tinged with both confusion and a bit of fear. "I don't remember much since Canary Wharf..." She blinked. "Mum?"

The Time Lord took a deep breath. "Your mum is safe. She's in the other universe - you remember that universe, the one with Lumic and the Cybermen and your not-Dad? She's there with your not-Dad and Mickey. I tried to send you there but you had to come back. Nearly got pulled into the Void, in fact. Probably would have if Sam hadn't traded places with you."

"Sam..." she said considering the name. "Sam Beckett? He's the one responsible for this project, yeah?"

"Yup," the Doctor responded. "Him and his friend Albert."

Memories were beginning to coalesce. Suddenly she gave him a strange look. "How's Jack involved in all this? I remember Jack." She gave a nervous laugh. "But that couldn't be, could it." She put her hand to her head. "It's all so jumbled. Am I mad?"

He looked at her with gentle eyes, reaching out to take the hand she had put to her head. "No. You're perfectly sane. It's travelling in time without the corrective instrumentation that a vortex manipulator or better yet a TARDIS possesses. Causes temporary amnesia thanks to the synapses misfiring. It'll all go right with a little rest and time." He took a breath. "And yes, Jack was involved. Apparently, his organization provides funding to Project Quantum Leap."

"But why am I here?" Rose questioned, turning to the Doctor. She noted the look in his eyes. "Why are you looking at me like that? Doctor?"

"Well... I've missed you," he admitted. "I mean, a few months without my best friend... bit hard to handle."

"A few months?" She had a look on her face that said at least some of the gaps in her memory were filling in. "Sam Beckett... traded places with me? What did I just say? What does it mean... traded places?" Another memory burst in. "I think I had a man's face... and body! I am mad."

"I told you. You're perfectly sane," the Doctor repeated himself. "It's the situation that's a bit... well... hinky."

"Hinky?" For a moment the fear on her face faded as she looked at the Doctor mischievously. "I've never heard you use that word before."

He ran his free hand through his hair. "Blimey, I've definitely been around Albert too long. Right. Basic principles of time travel without corrective instrumentation based on Dr. Samuel Beckett's String Theory." He cleared his throat for a moment before continuing. "Imagine your life from birth to death. It's obviously a linear string of progression from cause to effect as is all the events throughout history around the same linear string of progression. Now suppose that you found a way to jumble up that timeline into a big ball of wibbly wobbly timey whimey stuff, which is what time really is. But you find a way to jump from one point in time to another by accelerating quantum particles and placing yourself in the same chamber as the agitated particles, thus causing you to move through time. Problem is with this type of time travel, the only corrective variable would be to actually replace someone in a different time and sending them into the future to replace you. And, unfortunately, it also means that you would actually have to be living that person's life for whatever amount of time you are replacing them in the past which means that you would actually have to look like the person you are replacing. That's basically what happened between you and Sam Beckett."

"I actually was a man then?"

"No, you only looked like a man. You've always been the one and only Rose Tyler," he assured her with a grin.

She tilted her head. "But then that means... Sam Beckett looked like me." Giggling she added, "I bet he hated that."

"Wasn't that fond of it, no. Especially in Ancient Egypt. The Pharaoh kept hitting on him."

"I missed Ancient Egypt?"

"We can still go there. All of time and space at our hands, remember? Just us three."

"Three? Is Jack coming with us again?"

"Well, he could if he wants to. We can invite him when he comes back, which hopefully will be soon. But then it would be us four." He hesitated for a moment, a worried look on his face, though he didn't explain the expression on his features. "Four is good. Been a while since I had that many in the TARDIS." He squeezed her hand. "Best part is that you're back with me. I've learned a valuable lesson while you were away from me. I've learned that you can't let opportunities pass you up, no matter what."

"I'm not sure I understand," Rose answered. She was still confused about who the fourth member was. Still, something in the Doctor's eyes told her that wasn't the most important thing to hear at that moment.

"A lot happened while Sam was with me and a lot didn't happen but I still remember everything as if it did. Helps that Glad was there to help me figure out a few things. She's a bright girl, Galadriel. You'll like her."

"Doctor, you're rambling," she interjected, returning the squeeze he had given to her before. "Whatever it is... you can tell me."

The Gallifreyan again scratched the back of his neck with his free hand. "It's not easy for me to admit how I feel..." he admitted. Sniffing slightly, he turned his head so that he was looking into her eyes. "Here goes," he stated, a verbal dose of courage in the words. "Rose Tyler... I love you." He gazed at the stunned expression on her face. "Did... did I say something wrong?"

She blinked for a moment before giving a nervous little laugh. "I never thought I'd ever hear those words from you."

"I meant them," he told her seriously. "I love you, Rose. Have for a long time now. Ever since the leather jacket and big ears."

"They weren't that big," she commented, dismissing his self-derision. "They were the ears you had when I fell in love with you."

He seemed to think on her words for a moment. "So... you're saying..." He started, a smile growing on his face.

She giggled gently at his expression. "Yeah. I'm saying. I love you, Doctor."

The Doctor laughed as well, joy showing on his face, before grabbing Rose and pulling her into a tight hug that was immediately followed by a kiss.

"So, you finally told her," came a female voice from a few feet away. "About bloody time."

The Time Lord and the bleached blonde looked up from their seated positions, gazing up at the grinning face of one Galadriel Thatcher.


	26. Chapter 26

**Chapter 26**

In another room on a different level, another Time Lord was leaning back in his chair, relishing the feeling that success always gave him. The plan was set and the humans were scrambling for cover in their inadequate concrete bunkers to try to avoid the coming explosion that would tear the complex into atoms and irradiate the area for years to come. There was nothing that could stop him and his beloved wife now. Not even that odd blinking light on the computer console he'd just used to set the whole plan into action. Still, it was probably a good idea to make sure. After all, there was a reason why the Doctor seemed to love these apes and that was they tended towards luck every once in a while. It wouldn't hurt to make sure that their control center was clear and he did have fifteen more minutes before Peri was to retrieve him.

Jumping onto his feet, he whistled as he stepped out of the computer room. A couple of minutes later, the Master stepped out of the lift onto the appropriate level and was instantly on the alert. Something was wrong. There was a practically tangible tension in the air. And was that the sound of footsteps coming towards him? Quickly moving into a conference room, he pressed himself against the inner wall and peered out through a slight crack in the door. A moment later, a Marine guard moved in his direction, prompting him to silently close the door to avoid detection. The guard was obviously on the lookout for something or someone and he had a sneaking suspicion that it was for one Captain Jack Harkness. Had that computer of theirs found a way around the blocks he had so carefully placed inside its programming? If it had and it warned everyone about him, he would have to be careful. He really didn't want to be placed in custody. Handcuffs were not a comfortable thing to have around one's wrists. He should know. Besides, now he needed to make sure that the programming he had done wasn't being undone.

With the guard out of sight, he stepped out of the room, giving a huff of derision - seriously, don't humans ever notice a slightly open door? - and continued towards the control center. Opening the door, he immediately noticed a familiar figure and an equally familiar object. Not wanting to be noticed in return, he quickly scurried behind the TARDIS and watched his former schoolmate from a distance. _The Doctor. Here. The entire complex is on alert for me and he's lounging about without a care in the world._ He looked around the room to notice that all the computers were in prime order, especially the main one. _Damn,_ he thought with disappointment. Reaching for Jack's sidearm, he fingered it, considering. _I could just shoot him through the hearts._ But as he watched the interaction between the Doctor and his companions - both of them he recognized from that fateful day at the Prometheus Institute - he decided on a much more... appropriate punishment for the other Time Lord. But since he was running out of time - he knew his Peri would be retrieving him in only minutes - and he wanted it to be special, he waited. If he knew the Doctor, one of those two was more important to him than the other. He just needed to figure out which one.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

"So, you finally told her," the teenager girl was saying, standing over the Doctor and the young woman seated beside him, the person the Master concluded must be Dr. Tyler, Dr. Beckett's leapee. "About bloody time."

The Doctor looked up at the girl, his eyes wide with surprise at hearing the voice. "Glad!" He jumped to his feet. "You need to get back in the TARDIS. I've stopped the explosion but it still isn't safe out here."

"You let the Marines out. Why not me?"

"Who is this girl?" Rose questioned, pointing to her.

"You're not a Marine!" the Gallifreyan responded to Glad's comment.

"Doctor? Who is she?" The query was more adamant this time as the former leapee stood up.

"Galadriel," the girl replied to the question with a grin, extending her hand. "And you're Rose Tyler." She got a sad look on her face. "Sam's left us." She was obviously upset by the fact. "I didn't even get to say goodbye. No one got a chance to say goodbye. He vanished like a ghost and you came back."

"Right," Rose replied, the word drawn out. She turned to the Doctor. "Is she...?" She flitted her fingers at her temples to indicate that she thought the girl could be slightly mentally unstable.

"Psychic and telepathic? Yes," the Doctor responded before focusing on Glad. "And just because the Marines were allowed to leave the TARDIS doesn't give you the right to go sneaking up on us like that."

"You forgot. I've seen this before... just not under these specific conditions. No biggie."

"Seen what before?" Rose questioned.

"I prefer not to think about those other conditions," the Doctor told Glad. "We both know they didn't come out well in the end." He rubbed his fingertips on his forehead. "Diverging timelines give me a headache."

"Seen what before?" Rose pressed gently, still not at all sure who this girl was or why she and the Doctor seemed so familiar with each other.

"Well... we sort of..." the Gallifreyan hedged.

"You shagged," Glad said bluntly.

The Master's eyebrows went up at the girl's words. _Oh, really! How interesting._

"Galadriel!" the Doctor rebuked. "I really should have kept you away from Harkness."

Rose raised her hand at Glad's words. "Whoa! Hold it there, little missy. The Doctor and I... we _never_ did anything like that."

"You will," the girl from Camelot stated with conviction. "At least you did in that other timeline and, based on the Doctor's obvious feeling for you and you for him, it's inevitable for this timeline as well."

"Who is this girl?" the blond demanded, getting frustrated with the situation she found herself in.

"I'm going have to have a long talk with Jack the next time I see him," the Gallifreyan grumbled.

"Like that will do anything," came a dual response from the females in the room. Rose and Glad looked at each other, one with surprise, the latter with a grin.

The Doctor just raised his eyebrows, shrugging his concession to their statement. However, when Rose turned her eyes towards him and indicated Glad with a slight sideways nod, he realized that she was still waiting for an explanation for the girl's presence. "Oh, this is Galadriel Thatcher. Picked her up in medieval England."

"How long have I been gone again?" Rose asked but then shook her head before turning to Glad. "Okay, so I'm guessing all this has to do with other timelines. I get that. But if we were... doing... that... the shagging bit... then... we'd have to have been a proper couple. Yeah?" she asked. "Seriously? In another timeline, we're a couple?"

The Doctor exhaled slowly, taking her hand. "Rose... in another timeline, you were my wife."

"And that's a bad thing? You said it didn't come out well in the end. What? Did we get divorced or something?" Seeing the sadness in his eyes, she turned to Glad. "It doesn't have to end up badly in this timeline, does it? I mean, the Doctor said you're psychic. So... you can tell our future or something?"

Glad shrugged. "I don't think so. I don't _know_ the future. I just sometimes get a glimpse of it. Sometimes more but that only seems to have happened recently and not very consistently."

"Obviously not, little girl," the Master stated, coming out from behind the TARDIS, his purpose now completely clear to him. He aimed the gun in his hand towards the three friends. "If you did know the future... well, you'd have known about me."

"Master," the Doctor whispered, stunned by his appearance. "I see you've made your way here without being caught by security. And without me feeling your presence. Jack's aura must be confusing the signal."

"You think that I can't find my way through a group of apes? You? Of all people?"

Rose frowned at the sight of who she assumed was Jack Harkness, pointing a weapon at them and deriding his own species. "Jack... what are you doing?"

The Doctor took a slow breath. "That's not Jack."

"No. But I have what Jack left for me," the Master said, an evil grin crossing the visage of the ex-Time Agent. He lifted the revolver. "He does have good taste in firearms and apparently keeps it in tip top condition."

"So, what? You're just going to shoot me? After all these years?" The other Time Lord took a step towards him. "You tried to once before, remember? Centuries ago when we both looked so different?" He paused, looking into the Master's eyes. "You couldn't kill me then and you won't kill me now."

"Oh, I wouldn't dream of killing you. I want you to suffer and that requires living with something abhorrent to you. So..." He turned the gun to point at Rose. "...I kill her." At that moment, his finger squeezed, expelling the projectile.

Every Time Lord, throughout the ages, has carried the 'gift' – the burden, in the Doctor's opinion – of seeing everything that would ever be possible for every instance in time. At that very moment, the possibilities of time flooded the Doctor's mind brutally, taunting him. Before him stood the situation as if it were in stop-motion: the Master holding a gun up, telling him his plans while, almost a nanosecond later, pulling the trigger. Even as the events seemed to move slowly, he knew he couldn't stop the bullet nor could he prevent it from reaching its mark.

"No!" he cried out, hurrying to Rose's side just in time to catch her as she fell from the fatal blow. He dropped to his knees from the weight of her body but held onto her nonetheless, fear blatant in his eyes. As he did so, an alarm rang through the room and the sound of running footfalls could be heard in the far distance.

"Oh, yes!" his nemesis crowed victoriously. "Got you! The perfect revenge! You prevented my love from joining me through my lives and so now you can't have the same. Ever! And me? I still get Peri, even if it isn't forever! You don't even get _that_! I win!"

"You bastard!" Glad yelled, anger and outrage manifesting from what she'd just witnessed.

"No. Mother and Father were legally bound," he claimed joyously, enjoying the results of his actions.

She screamed at his callousness, rushing towards him only to be knocked hard across her temple with the pistol he carried.

"Be glad you aren't important enough to kill, girlie," he told her.

"Rose," the Doctor gasped, pulling the woman's head into his lap, ignoring the other Gallifreyan's cheerful rejoice. "Rose," he repeated, his voice cracking as he desperately tried to stop her blood from spilling out. "It's okay. I've got you. I've got you." He looked up at the people surrounding him, avoiding the eyes of the man who had shot his beloved. "Someone get a medical team in here!"

Almost as soon as the Doctor's request had left his lips, the door opened and a rush of soldiers as well a medical team rushed in, called by Ziggy at the moment the gun had discharged. As they came in, they stopped. There was the Project head holding a gun and another man cradling the woman they'd been called to help. They also saw a very frightened young girl on her knees, blinking rapidly and crying as a bruise started to form beside her left eye.

The face of Jack Harkness turned to the Doctor, having assumed a cruel smile and eyes burning with a hatred that would never be aimed at the Time Lord if the rightful owner of the aura were there. His attention was quickly diverted, however, when the humans carrying guns and medical equipment hurried into the room. "Oh, and look who it is! A welcoming committee! You shouldn't have! Everyone, stay where you are or many others will be shot, starting with the first person to move! And shut off that alarm!" A second later, Ziggy complied with his last demand, sending the room into near silence, broken only by Glad's crying and the Doctor's frightened whispers.

Al had been moving toward the man who resembled Jack. At the ultimatum given, he stopped and indicated to the security and medical teams they needed to wait as well. "You're insane," he stated, knowing the man wasn't his friend but the most evil leaper he could imagine. "I don't know how, but we'll find you...and when we do..." His voice carried the threat as the Doctor finished it.

The Doctor raised his eyes towards the man who had mocked him through the lips of a dear friend of his. "I will hunt you down, Master," he told him through gritted teeth. "I swear. I will find you and I'll make you pay for this."

"Oh, such dramatics. 'I'll make you pay.' 'We'll find you'..." The Master rolled his eyes. "No wonder you like these apes. They're just as melodramatic as you." A smile came to his face as he felt a tingle start to run through him. "I'd love to stay and shoot some more but I've got to go." He waved with his free hand. "Bye!"

A moment later, the hand that held the revolver dropped and a confused look overtook Jack's face. "What?" Even as Jack looked around at his surroundings, completely at a loss for what was going on, two Marine officers rushed him, quickly removing the weapon and forcing him to the floor. "Hey! What the hell is going on here?"

"Doctor..." a soft voice, filled with pain, whispered. "Doctor..."

The Time Lord dropped his head to look on Rose's pale face. He brushed her cheek gently. "Hang on, Rose. Hang on. Help's here. But you have to hang on!" A resolute expression came to his face as he carefully lowered her to the floor. He quickly stood and pointed to the medical team. "Tend to her!" he ordered before hurrying towards the TARDIS.

"Where are you going?" Glad questioned with incredulity, hurrying to follow him.

"Doctor! What happened?" Jack cried out. "What's wrong with Rose?"

The Time Lord, however, was focused on his actions, rushing into the time ship without any hesitation.

The emergency team lead looked up. "She's been shot. A single bullet to the chest. Looks like it penetrated near her heart." He paused. "I don't think she's going to make it."

"Shot?! Who shot her? I'll kill the bastard!" Jack exclaimed. He struggled to get out of the hands of the Marines holding him down. "Get the hell off of me!"

Al waved his hand to indicate that the guards should let the Captain go. He then looked at Jack while the latter stood, his eyes clearly showing the deep pain he felt and the knowledge of how the words would inflict the same upon Jack. "Your gun was used to shoot her."

Jack gazed on him, shock on his face. "What?!" His mind quickly put all the pieces together: the gun that had been in his hand, the Marines taking it and forcing him to the floor and refusing to release him until Al gave the order. "No! It can't be! I'd never... not my Rosie!" He looked at the medical lead with desperation in his eyes. "Do something!"

"There's nothing that I can do," the man responded sorrowfully, though it was clear that he was trying desperately to defy his own words.

"It wasn't you, Jack," Al stated quietly. "It was the Master."

"But... how?" the immortal man questioned.

Before anyone could respond to the query, a bright light flooded the room, causing all to turn from its source which seemed to be the prone form of Rose Tyler. A moment later, it dissipated, leaving everyone in the room confused.

"Where's Rose?" Jack demanded, noticing that the woman was nowhere in sight.

"A leap?" Al questioned. "It couldn't be." He called up. "Ziggy?"

"Yes, Admiral?" a feminine voice came from all around.

"What just happened here?"

"Rose Tyler has disappeared."

"Don't be a smart ass, you bucket of bolts. You know what I mean."

"I am not being an intelligent donkey, Admiral. I am responding to your query. Rose Tyler has inexplicably disappeared."

"How could that happen? She's not a leaper... nor a leapee. Not anymore."

"If I knew the answer to that question, her disappearance would not be inexplicable."

"So, she just disappeared without any known reason?" Jack questioned, clearly overwhelmed by all that had happened in the last few minutes.

"I believe that is what I just said, Captain Harkness," came the response from the computer.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

The moment the Doctor hurried into the time ship he found it filled with human scientists who were trying to figure out the vehicle despite being behind a barrier. "Get out!" he shouted at them. "Now!" Without even stopping, he bolted through the inner doors.

Glad, who has rushed into the TARDIS as well, decided that it was probably best to get the current occupants out of the ship as quickly as possible and guided them out only seconds before the Gallifreyan reappeared with two long bars, which she immediately recognized as the anti-gravity stretcher she and Sam had used to bring the Doctor into the TARDIS when he had been poisoned in Egypt. She followed him back out of the TARDIS, realizing what he was doing and intent on assisting in any way that she could. However, seconds after they stepped out, the Doctor staggered to a stop, a stunned expression on his face, forcing the girl to follow suit.

"Where is she?" he questioned with desperation. "Where's Rose?"

Al answered, "We don't know. She was here and then she disappeared."

"What do you mean, 'she disappeared'? She can't have! She was right here!" The expression on the Time Lord's face was quickly shifting from desperation to sheer panic. He didn't realize that he had dropped the anti-gravity stretcher he had been carrying.

"She was here... and then she wasn't. Sort of like what happens when I'm in the Imaging Chamber with Sam."

Jack spoke up. Although he was still gravely affected by learning his gun had been used to shoot his friend, he could see the Time Lord needed more. "I don't understand it either, Doctor, but I don't think she leapt. At least not like Sam does. It was something totally different."

"How about giving me something I can use, Jack?" the Gallifreyan berated. "If I don't find her in the next three minutes, she'll die." He ran his hand through his hair quickly. "The Master must have taken her somehow. But why would he do that? How? I have to find him," he said in rapid-fire.

Ziggy's voice entered the conversation. "I don't believe the Master had anything to do with Rose Tyler's disappearance."

The Doctor was on the verge of hyperventilation. "Then what happened?!" he demanded. "Two minutes, twenty six seconds..." He paced rapidly.

"I am a parallel hybrid computer. I can only put forth a hypothesis based on the known facts. Thus, I don't know what happened, but I do not believe the Master had anything to do with her disappearance," she repeated.

"I can see why Albert says such derogatory things about you! You're worthless in an emergency!"

"You don't have to get huffy, Doctor," she answered. "I am endeavoring to be helpful."

"Huffy?! You haven't even seen me mildly upset!" came the angry reply. "Two minutes..." he murmured to himself. "Running out of time..."

"Doctor," Jack interjected, "I know that Ziggy can be difficult but she almost always has something worth saying." He asked the blue orb, "Why don't you think the Master has anything to do with Rose's disappearance, Ziggy?"

"Because there was a completely different energy signal. The Master was apparently using equipment that used the Lothos energy signal which I've seen before. This was totally different," the computer answered. "I've never seen an energy signal quite like it."

"None of this helps me find Rose," the Doctor commented. "One minute thirty seconds..."

"I do not believe you will be able to find her, Doctor," Ziggy said with an almost sad finality.

There was a long silence in the room as everyone watched the Time Lord stopping his pace. He closed his eyes as he took a shaky breath, breathing for a few seconds before finally responding. "No... not in time," he admitted quietly. "Even if..." He swallowed tightly. "It's too late."

"That's not what I..." Ziggy started.

Jack, seeing the Doctor's body language, told the computer, "Not now, Ziggy." He went over to his friend. "Doctor... I'm sorry," he offered, his voice showing his own sorrow.

The Gallifreyan looked into Jack's eyes and saw the devastation of his heart there as well as a deep sense of guilt. "Not your fault, Jack." He took a slow, shaky breath. "The Master killed her, not you."

"He used my gun," Jack pointed out, his guilt palpable.

The former glanced at the immortal man, holding back his opinion about guns in general. Now was not the time to go into the pros and cons of bearing arms, especially when his own views on the matter so strongly contradicted his friend's. Instead, he grasped Jack's shoulder. "Not your fault," he repeated. "He could have used anyone's gun in this complex. He pulled the trigger, not you."

Jack nodded but wouldn't accept the absolution. As he had watched the events unfold, the niggling of recent memories had started to infiltrate his mind. He realized suddenly that the Master's woman had made it clear he was the choice vehicle for her husband's revenge. They knew exactly what they were doing. "Where will you go, Doctor?" he asked. At one time, he might have even hitched a ride. Now... he wondered if his friend could ever look at him and not see the Master taking Rose's life.

The alien took a long slow breath. "I don't know. Away," came the quiet response. "You could come with me if you want."

"I can't. Not now," the ex-Time Agent said. "Take care of yourself." He gave a pointed gaze to Glad, asking her with his eyes to make sure he did.

The girl gave him a slow, sad nod in response. Going up to the Time Lord, she slipped her hand into his. A second later, he pulled his hand away from her, obviously not wanting physical contact at that moment. He turned and silently went into the TARDIS, not responding to Jack's entreats.

Al watched as the two walked off, calling his farewell to two time travelers. Glad turned and waved but the Doctor never deviated from his b-line to the TARDIS. Within moments of the two entering the blue box, the grinding sound that was unique to its arrivals and farewells filled the room only to end as it disappeared from sight.

"I hope he'll be all right. He really loved her," Al stated sadly.

"Yeah," came the quiet reply from the immortal man. "Anyone who knew her loved her." There was a long silence in the room before he turned to the ex-Admiral. "Take care of Project Quantum Leap, Al," he stated before turning towards the door.

The older man was taken by surprise. He caught up with his friend and reached out gently to his arm. "Jack?" he asked, his voice positing the confusion the other man's words had evoked.

Jack stopped at the touch of Al's hand and looked into the visibly older man's eyes. "I'm not leaving you in the lurch, Al. You'll still have the funding."

"I know. I wasn't thinking you'd pull it. I know you care about Sam making it home someday." He paused, knowing that as open as the man was when the topic was sexual, he was equally as closed when things touched on emotional turmoil. He realized that was like the pot calling the kettle black, but he really was worried about how Jack was dealing with this. "Are you going to be okay?"

Jack took a slow breath and let it out with equal steadiness, hiding his feelings in the one act. "To be quite honest... I don't know." He paused, looking around the room. "I just know that I can't be here... now. It may be a while before I can."

Al nodded in understanding. "Yeah. I understand how that could be difficult." He gave his friend's arm a comforting squeeze. "You know we're here for you, even if it's not in person. Whatever you need, just ask."

"Thanks for the offer but, just telling you now, I probably won't take you up on it. You take care of yourself, Al," he told him, extending his hand.

"The offer's there whether you do or not." Al took the proffered hand and shook it, knowing that for now, it was truly a goodbye. "You too."

With a nod that could have meant absolutely anything at all, Captain Harkness pulled away and exited the Control Room, not once looking back.

"I'm going to miss him, Admiral," Ziggy voiced.

"We all are," Al answered before turning to the task of getting the team back into normal operating mode and searching for Sam along his lifeline.


	27. Chapter 27

**Chapter 27**

 _Bonzenland, Africa_

 _May 2019_

As Peri started the sequence to pull her husband back from the past and bring the immortal man back to his own time, the power began to fluctuate. "Dammit! Not now! I need a steady current," she groused to herself as she continued to monitor the energy flow while, at the same time, entering the proper codes at the right intervals. Slowly, the Master began to return to his own aura but, just as he was nearly through the time currents, there was a precipitous drop in electricity. Flipping a switch on the console, Peri forced the equipment to pull on the city's power grid, allowing it to suck the energy greedily and thus give the equipment the stability it needed to finish the process. When the retrieval was complete, the excess power began to overload the circuitry. Sparks flew and motherboards sizzled. "Damn!" she exclaimed again in frustration, trying to prevent the inevitable outcome.

A moment later, the entire building went black. The sound of impatient knocking came from the chamber, indicating the occupant wanted to be free of his confines.

"I'll have to find the sonic, dear," Peri called out. "It's dark out here. Need to get a torch going."

"It's dark in here as well," he responded with slight irritation, though his tone indicated a bit of joviality. "What did you do? Forget to pay the electric bill?"

"No. The power grid wasn't stable. I had to pull extra power in to bring you back in one piece. I want you whole... not in parts scattered through time." Finding a torch on the main worktable - and barely avoiding getting herself cut on a piece of sharp metal in the process - she turned on the light and moved the beam around, locating the alien technology. "Oh, here it is. I'll have you out quickly."

"Wouldn't be the first time I was in little pieces," the Master muttered under his breath at her comment just before hearing her locating his specialized tool. A few seconds later, a low buzz sounded from the other side of the door and the lock was released, allowing the Time Lord to step out. "My heroine," he stated nonchalantly.

"I'm glad you're back. I wasn't able to torture Harkness physically... I just couldn't look at him and not see you. I had to be satisfied with tormenting him mentally." She paused. "Did you destroy Dr. Beckett's project?"

He sighed with obvious disappointment. "The Doctor got in the way," he grumbled. Slowly the anger on his face dissipated into self-satisfaction. "But I did repay him for stopping our plans."

She noticed the pleasured grin that took control of his face. "Oh, that sounds delicious. You must tell me." Looking around, she sighed. "I think even with your marvelous upgrades to the system that this facility is no longer viable. I wouldn't be surprised if every chip and board has been compromised beyond repair."

He retrieved the torch from Peri and walked over to the damaged system he had worked on for so many long years. After a moment of inspection, he shrugged his shoulders. "Meh. No big loss there, even if it was my best work in centuries." He grimaced slightly. "Remind me never to travel through time via quantum leaping again. It's worse than using a vortex manipulator."

"I have to admit, I never liked it much myself." She went over to him and put her arms around his waist, her head on his back. "I loved watching you work on it though. You were brilliant, Harry. I truly didn't think we'd get Lothos' original equipment working again... but then I should have known you would be able to do that blindfolded and with one hand tied behind your back."

He held her hands to his chest, smiling at the sensation while at the same time - and not for the first time - marveling that he felt so much trust in her to not be utterly paranoid about having his back towards her. "Never been fond of blindfolds or bondage... except with you," he added with a mischievous grin as he turned around to face her.

A sardonic grin claimed her face. "I did pick up a new leather bustier the other day. I think you'll like it. It takes a _Masterful_ hand to unlace it."

"Oh, the puns!" The Time Lord rolled his eyes. "I love you, Periwinkle, but sometimes your humor is a bit over the top." He wrapped his arm around her back and guided her towards the building's exit, the torch guiding their way. After they'd moved several blocks away from the building but close enough that they could still see it from a distance, the Master reached into the pocket of his jeans and pulled out a small device. "You know... I almost forgot tomorrow is your birthday. I think this calls for fireworks." He opened the small device and pressed a single button. A moment later, the building they had called their workplace exploded into raging flames.

"You're so thoughtful, dear." She frowned slightly. "There won't be anything left for the detectives to sort through, right?" Peri asked, wanting to confirm they could not be traced to the arson.

"They'll be lucky if they find anything bigger than a toothpick," he assured. "The radioactive generator will be nicely buried and relatively harmless. And even if they did, the heat will pretty much sterilize the evidence of anything usable."

"Oh... that reminds me. I know what I want for my birthday. I need to replace a few power tools. I want to check out some with multiple settings."

The Gallifreyan laughed. "You do like your toys."

"And presents," she agreed. "But first, you need to tell me what you did to extract revenge from that meddling Time Lord."

"My perfect mate, the romantic," he cooed at her, wrapping his arm around her as they walked towards their city home. "Where to start? The moment I arrived at Project Quantum Leap..."

DWQLTWDWQLTW

 _Somewhere, somewhen_

The TARDIS' console room was silent of all sound except for the steady, ever-present hum of the time rotor moving up and down as the time ship moved smoothly through the Vortex. Even so, the hum seemed quieter than normal, a sure indication that the air in the room was as somber as the ship's pilot, who sat in the jumpseat and stared at nothing in particular but whose eyes showed that he wasn't at all vacant of mind.

Glad hadn't said a word as she'd followed him into the TARDIS. Instead she watched him as he had gone straight to the console and performed the operation that had become almost an unconscious performance. He'd sat down as soon as they were underway and had continued to be lost in his thoughts. Now she felt it was the right time to engage him if for no other reason than to know what he was thinking. "Doctor? Can I get you anything?"

The Time Lord didn't seem to have heard her inquiry for a long moment before he shifted his eyes towards her. He looked at her for a long moment before returning his gaze to the nothingness he'd been focused on before, giving a quiet "No" in response.

"Okay... but you know if you do want anything, I'd be happy to get it for you. All you have to do is ask and I'll be right on it." She paused when he didn't respond. "You know that, right? All you have to do is ask me and it will be done. No matter how small or even large it is. Although, if it's too heavy or bigger than what I can carry... I might have to say no. Not because I wouldn't want to do it but because there are some things I can't do. Without help that is. I know there's hardly anything..."

"Shut up," came a low growl from her friend. It was clear from the expression on his face that her ramblings were getting under his skin.

"I'm sorry," she said meekly. "I just don't know how to help. When my father died, our neighbors came and offered to help. It didn't last long but... I think they were trying to comfort us."

"So... what? You're going to bring me mead and shepherd's pie and ply me with food and talk about how sorry you are for my loss?" he questioned sarcastically.

"I _am_ sorry for your loss... it's mine too, you know, only not as deep."

He gave her a glare. "You're right," he stated bluntly as he stood from the jumpseat. "It isn't nearly as painful for you. You barely knew her whereas she was my life for over two years. So don't try to pretend you have any idea what I'm going through. You're just a peasant from the sixth century! A _human_ peasant from the sixth century! You can't possibly understand what I'm going through!"

"So... peasants don't feel anything? Don't feel love? Or pain?" She shook her head sadly. "No, in real time I hardly knew Rose. But in here," she said pointing to her head, "I knew her for years. In dreams and nightmares I was her friend. And I have seen what it does to a man to lose the woman whose soul matches his and completes him. I saw it with my father when my mother was taken from us. The pain he felt as we both grieved her brutish death." As she spoke, tears welled in her eyes which she wiped away quickly.

"Don't compare losing your mother to what I'm going through now!" he yelled at her, not noticing the tears in his passion. "Rose was my wife! Another timeline, this timeline... doesn't matter! I still feel the connection and the bond between a Time Lord and his mate is sacrosanct." Taking a deep breath, he shook his head. "What's the point?" he grumbled. "You'll never understand." He turned from her and went to the console. He proceeded to pound in coordinates, not really noticing his actions nor caring how the TARDIS itself may feel about the rough treatment he was giving to not only the delicate instruments but also the ship's psyche.

"What are you doing, Doctor?" Glad questioned, feeling the confusion and fear from the ship match her own as she watched the Gallifreyan's temper burst through. "Where are you taking us?"

"Nowhere! Anywhere! Away from humans!" he shouted back. "Maybe if I stop being around you lot the Master will stop taking everything I love from me! Let him have the damned universe if he wants it. What does it matter?"

"You don't mean that," she responded. "I know you're hurt, but you don't know what you're saying."

"Yes, I do!" he countered. "What's the point in any of it? I open myself up to care and what does it get me? Everything I care about ripped away from me! Every time! Well, I've had it! I don't want to care anymore! I just want to be left alone!" He started to walk away from her and towards the depths of the ship.

Glad ran after him and grabbed his arm, pulling hard with a strength that came from the certainty that the words he'd given her so long before were meant for this moment. As he turned, consuming anger in his eyes, she looked into those orbs and nearly shouted, "A Time Lord must _never_ let his hearts turn into stone."

"What the hell is that supposed to mean?" the Doctor questioned, returning the fire in his own voice.

"I mean that you're letting the Master win. You're becoming no better than he is. Ready to turn your back on everything and play by his rules. The only way for you to do that is to harden your hearts."

"So what if I do?" he countered vehemently. "What difference does it make anyway? Why should I allow myself to..." He stopped, feeling his eyes starting to water. "Why should I..." He froze as the words Glad had spoken replayed in his mind, the significance coming back as he remembered the message Merlyna had her grandson relay to him in what had become the wizard's cave. Mentally, he once again found himself in that different, much older TARDIS, where he had entered the unique room filled with terrifying images of a man with two hearts who had lost his soul. Where he'd seen the beautiful girl he'd brought from Camelot reduced to a shadow of herself because he'd treated her with cruelness and anger as she tried to care for him in spite of him pushing everything good away. "'The heart of the Storm was torn asunder,'" he quoted the vision in a low shaky voice. The tears that had threatened to fall trickled down his cheeks. "It's today, isn't it." He looked up towards the ceiling, speaking to the woman he had only seen once in his dreams. "You were showing me what this day would lead to." Like a marionette whose strings had just been cut, the Doctor dropped to the floor and began to sob.

Glad moved cautiously towards him, never having seen him like this except in her terrifying nightmares of a world gone wrong. Her arms reached out and embraced him to let him know he wouldn't go through this pain alone. As she did, the memory that she'd spoken of before - of seeing her father broken - came unbidden. "Neither you nor Rose deserved this, Doctor. You loved her and she loved you and that passion should have been allowed to bloom and flourish. I'm sorry. I wish I could do something to change it all...but I can't. Nobody can."

The grieving man didn't speak, allowing Glad to just hold him and let him mourn. It was a half an hour before he could actually form a clear sentence and, when he did, it was through shaking lips. "Sorry," he whispered, clearly embarrassed by his outburst but not really regretting it. He gave a sick little laugh as he noticed the positions he and Glad were in, sitting on the floor with the girl holding him. "Thought _I_ was supposed to take care of _you_."

"No need to be sorry," she soothed. "You loved her and it's natural to grieve. Besides, isn't a family supposed to take care of each other?" she said softly.

"Family?" he questioned, wiping tears away.

"That's what you've become to me and Sam told me you cared for me like you did your granddaughter. I know I'm not but I like to think that makes us family."

He chuckled again, this time with more humor in the act. "Oh, you have no idea."

"So you feel that way, too?" she asked, a hopeful smile teasing her lips.

"It's more than a feeling, I assure you," came the reply. He breathed in deeply before exhaling loudly, the sound that came from emotional relief of a burden lessened slightly. He knew it would be a long time before he would stop mourning but at least, with Glad's help, he could go on in spite of the pain. Pulling her close to him again, he held her tightly for a long moment. "Thank you." He looked into her eyes as she looked up at his. "Thank you for stopping me from becoming a man I don't want to be. The vision I saw in Merlyna's TARDIS won't come true thanks to you." He gave her a gentle smile. "Told you. You are brilliant."

"Only because you believe in me."

"How could I not? We have the same _papisjarno_ ," he told her with a broad grin. Seeing the confusion on her face, he clarified, "It's Gallifreyan. It literally means 'eternal father'. You and I are blood related on my mother's side," he informed her.

She tilted her head. "How? You're a Time Lord and I'm human... well, half-human. How could we be blood relations?"

He tilted his head back and forth for a long moment. "Well... I'm only 98% Time Lord. Maybe 99%. But that's only because my father had to genetically manipulate my DNA while I was in my mother's womb to prevent her from having a miscarriage. See, interspecies reproduction can be very tricky. Most of the time, the results are... well, let's just say that they aren't very nice. That isn't to say you aren't nice or are some sort of biological nuisance, which you aren't..."

"My mother said I was her greatest miracle," she smiled. "Maybe that's what she meant."

"Could be," he agreed. "But I like to think she was referring to your sparkling personality." He grinned broadly at her. "Anyway, in my case, even though Time Lords and humans have similar physiologies the odds of having a successful mating and going to term remain tricky, which is why my father had to... Well, I'm starting to repeat myself. But the whole thing it comes down to... to answer your question... my mother was human."

The surprise on Glad's face was palpable. "Human? You're part human? And we're related?"

"Came as a surprise to me as well... the related part not the part human part," the Doctor admitted. "Merlyna told me in a dream. Haven't had the chance to verify her words but considering how brilliant you are and the fact that you look almost exactly like my granddaughter... I mean, what are the chances that particular strand of DNA survived thousands of years to wind up in my bloodline?"

Glad grinned. "Too bad we don't have Sam's computer to figure that out."

"Oh, I could figure it out myself if I really wanted to. But why? It's obvious really, when you think about it. There's no way we couldn't possibly _not_ be related." He pointed to her as he slowly stood up from the floor, helping Glad up as he did so. "You have your grandfather to blame for that."

"My grandfather? Why my grandfather?"

"Because there had to be two lines. Your father and his brother or sister since that was the line with your transvestite cousin," he reasoned.

"You mean the one who liked my clothes better than his?"

He ran his hand over the back of his head. "That's the one," he muttered.

"His father and my father were brothers."

"Well, then there you are. It confirms what I said before. Your grandfather is our _papisjarno_ ," he told her, giving her a smile.

"But that means that... you're descended from... Boyne."

He cringed slightly at her words. "Please... don't remind me. And please tell me your uncle was nothing like your cousin."

"Oh, no. Uncle Owen was wonderful. He made up the greatest stories ever."

The Doctor looked at her with a twinkle in his eye. "Was he married to your Aunt Beru?"

Glad's face crinkled. "Aunt Beru? I didn't have an Aunt Ber..." Her face softened and she looked at him with eyes that said she understood he was kidding and throwing in a silly reference to one of her favorite movies. "No. Boyne was no Luke Skywalker."

The Doctor tilted his head in concession. "Too bad. Wouldn't mind being a direct descendant of Luke Skywalker."

"Well, you got Boyne instead." She considered that. "I wonder who would marry him."

"Who knows? Right now, I'm only glad that someone _did_ marry him. Otherwise, I wouldn't be the man I am now. I might be... oh, I don't know... five foot two inches tall with a uni-brow and bucked teeth." He shivered at the thought. "At least I can honestly say that your cousin does look good in a dress. Scary... but good."

Glad laughed. "Well, don't you go to following his lead."

He returned the laugh. "Only if we land in Scotland. But then I'd be wearing a kilt, not a dress."

She smiled at him, happy that the Doctor she knew had found his way back. Still, there was a little bit of fear that this wouldn't last, that this humorous side would become a crutch to avoid the natural course of emotional healing she knew he needed. "You're going to be all right?"

He gave her a small smile. "I'm always all right."

"We both know that's not always true," she said letting him know she saw through that facade and giving a gentle reminder that, no less than ten minutes ago, he was proving that particular statement false. "I mean, it's going to take awhile... but I want to know that you know you'll get through this."

He gave a slight nod at her words. "I know," he assured her. "Not the first time my hearts have..." He licked his lips, hiding his emotions with that one action. "I know."

"Okay, then. Now, I'm going to go and fix us some lunch... and I'm not trying to placate you with food. Neither of us ate any breakfast this morning."

The Doctor shrugged his concession on that matter. While he didn't have any sort of appetite at the moment, he knew he probably should let the girl feed him. After all, he knew that he likely wouldn't have an appetite for a long while, a side effect of normal grieving.

"Now... can I get anything for you before I use Sally's recipe to make up a shepherd's pie for you?"

"You're going to make shepherd's pie?" he questioned. "More importantly, how did you get Sally's recipe? She keeps that under lock and key... in a vault... at UNIT HQ... guarded by laser sensors and attack dogs."

"No. She keeps it on a piece of paper in a little box in her kitchen... and before you scold me, I asked her for it and she gave it willingly." A sly grin captured her face. "I just can't share it with _you_."

"Oi, that's not fair! I've known her for centuries longer than you have!"

"It's the promise I had to make to get the recipe. You don't want me breaking promises, you do?"

He lowered his eyelids. "She's torturing me. That's what it is. She's torturing me for leaving a dead Dragon in her sitting room... and the larval infestation... and that unfortunate incident with the Cheez Whiz..."

"Perhaps. But the question still stands... do you want anything before I go to make the pie?"

The Doctor smiled gently at the offer. "Cup of tea would be nice. No cream..."

"... two sugars," she finished the sentence. "I'll be back in a jiffy." She then left the room to take care of the request.

The Gallifreyan could help but chuckle at her words. Just how much vocabulary she picked up from the American quantum physicist who had graced them with his presence for so long he didn't know but he was sure that he would have to get used to hearing American slang from time to time.

Moving over to the jumpseat once again, he slipped into the chair with the ease of ownership, relaxing for the first time since before the Master had irrevocably altered life as he knew it. He knew that he needed the time alone, time to gather his thoughts and to find a way of coping with his loss without burying it and he was grateful that Glad allowed him that time. As he allowed his thoughts to replay the adventures he shared with Rose, he closed his eyes.

It seemed like only a moment later he was opening those same eyes, blinking away the remnants that told him he had actually fallen asleep. "Glad?" he questioned softly. Not getting a response, he sighed. "How long have I been sleeping?" he murmured to himself, standing to stretch and feeling his back pop, the muscle tightness remaining. Groaning slightly in protest, he looked around the console room and noticed the teacup left for him on the console. He smiled in appreciation of the girl who had left it there for him. Picking up the cup, he immediately realized that the drink had gone completely cold. "Bugger," he groused, turning to put the cup on the jumpseat. "What time is it anyway?" He gazed internally to search for the answer but came up empty.

"Impossible," he whispered. "I'm a Time Lord. I _always_ know the time. Something's wrong." Going back to the console to look for the culprit to the dilemma, he froze. "Hold on. Where are we?" He pulled on a few levers, checking the monitor as he did so, and then asked himself, "More importantly... when are we? But... that's more impossible than impossible! There's... there's no evidence of time at all. We're not even outside of time. It's just... gone." He paused, a frightened look on his face. "Like... it never existed."


	28. Chapter 28

**Chapter 28**

"Nonononononono!" the Doctor exclaimed as he quickly moved around the console, trying to determine how what he was seeing and feeling could possibly have occurred. "This can't be happening! Can't!" His mind frantically went through all the possible permutations and, coming up empty with any rational explanation, began going through the events leading up to that point. He remembered marching into the TARDIS and, after sending the TARDIS into the Vortex, treating Glad so poorly because of his broken hearts. He remembered reacting badly to her attempts to comfort him, even to the point of nearly abandoning everything he was just to escape the vacancy losing Rose had caused him. He'd even reset the coordinates of the TARDIS to some random, preferably uninhabited planet... At least, he thought that's what he did. He couldn't really be sure. That certainly had been the intent but, from the coordinates he read on the console, it certainly wasn't where he ended up. He'd ended up nowhere and nowhen, even more out of alignment with time than he had ever been before.

The reality of the situation struck him, causing his hearts to grow cold with horror. "What have I done?" he breathed, running his right hand through his hair. "It can't be... But what else could it be? I did this." He slumped into the jumpseat, dejection in his actions. "And I thought dropping into a parallel world was bad. This..." He looked over at the central column, opening himself up to the impulses of his time ship and feeling the utter panic that came from the sentient life form.

"I'm sorry," he whispered, conveying the sentiment telepathically as well. "I really messed up this time. I suppose... at least... we have each other... for however long it is," he added somberly. "Can't blame you for being afraid, though. I'm petrified." He let out a shaky breath. "And I've taken Galadriel down with both of us."

As if his thoughts requested her presence, Glad's voice was heard from the door. "Did you say something, Doctor? I don't think I heard you right."

The Gallifreyan turned his head and regarded her for a long moment. Going over to her, he slowly pulled her into a tight embrace that exuded sorrow. "I'm sorry," he told her.

"Doctor... are you all right?" she asked, pulling away to search his eyes. Ever since his outburst and erratic behavior after they'd left Project Quantum Leap, she'd been afraid that his sorrow would overtake him again, despite the emotional breakdown she knew he had needed. "It's going to take some time..."

"I've made a terrible mistake," he admitted, interrupting her. "The outburst I'd had earlier... when I set the time coordinates, I didn't realize my actions." The Time Lord looked into the girl's eyes. "I've trapped us, Galadriel. We're outside of time and space and I have no idea how to get us back."

"How can that be? Outside of time and space? There's always time and space."

"I know but... it's gone," he responded, frustration clear in his voice. "I mean, literally completely gone. I can't feel it. The TARDIS can't find it. There's no indication whatsoever that there is anything at all beyond those doors. Even the monitor is blank. And this time I'm absolutely sure about it unlike that time when we dropped out through a crack between universes and wound up on a parallel world with zeppelins and Rose's dad being alive. And it's definitively not another dimension like that reality with the Master of the Land of Fiction - who is in no way related to the _Master_ Master - where everything was a storybook. We are literally nowhere nowhen. There's nothing out there. Just... us."

"Oh," she responded. Then she switched topics. "I wanted to let you know lunch will be in about a half an hour." She looked puzzled. "If we're where there is no time, will the timer work properly? I don't want to burn the pie."

"Umm... I don't know. Should do, I would think. I mean, there may not be anything out there but I would imagine that time would pass at a relatively normal rate inside the TARDIS." He paused, his eyes thoughtful. "Or... your pie might not bake at all if time isn't passing as it should." He scratched a sideburn. "You... don't seem bothered that we are trapped nowhere and nowhen."

"Well, we just got here, didn't we? You don't know how we got here and maybe we'll just pop out somewhen again soon. No need to worry when there's nothing we can do about it... at least, not for awhile."

The Gallifreyan made a half-gesture of a shrug. "I suppose that's true. I mean, without any available information to make any sort of viable escape plan. Still..." He quivered slightly, making a sound that clearly indicated that he was more than a little uncomfortable with the situation.

"You know... this might be a good time to have you watch 'Stargate' with me. There's a lot of episodes to get through."

"What? All of them? Two series and four movies?"

"Three series," she corrected.

"Please. That last one was a joke. Even without that last one, that's a lot of television. Next you're going to watch the 'Star Trek' franchise or, worse, 'Coronation Street.'"

"Well... if we have nowhere or when to go, we might as well use the downtime for something fun."

"The rest of my incarnations watching my DVD collection? And that's it?"

"Watching Stargate isn't going to kill you, Doctor," she responded with annoyance. "I think you'll like Jack and Sam... and they have this really smart archeologist... Daniel Jackson." She paused. "He's the cute one."

"I know the characters, Glad," he said gently. "I own the DVDs. It's just... the rest of my lives, watching television. Bit dull, that."

"Yeah... well... if that's all there is, maybe. But we don't know how long this is going to last. Who knows? We might wake up tomorrow merrily traveling through the Vortex. But for now, it's time to get cleaned up for lunch. If time isn't going to work in here like it does normally, we'd better be in the kitchen as soon as possible. Just in case."

The Gallifreyan shrugged again. He still didn't like feeling so completely out of touch with the universe and he seriously doubted that shepherd's pie, no matter how incredibly delicious it was, was going to ease that discomfort. "Television and food. If that's all I've got to look forward to..." he complained as he started to follow Glad through the TARDIS. "I suppose that I could do an occasional rearrangement of the rooms. I do have that pool... and the gaming room... and the library." He sighed. "I'll be bored before my one thousand five hundredth birthday!"

DWQLTWDWQLTW

The shepherd's pie had been extremely good, the Doctor had to admit, and the mini-marathon of "Stargate SG-1" had been a good distraction. But eventually Glad became sleepy and it was necessary to call it a night. The Doctor was glad that time did seem to be running at a normal rate inside the TARDIS - otherwise the pie would not have been cooked properly - but it did make him wonder why he couldn't actually feel the passage of it. His curiosity on the matter, however, eventually waned as the days passed in nearly the same venue, consisting of eating and spending time with Galadriel in a variety of activities.

The first night, however, was the worst. Once the Gallifreyan had finally found the need to sleep, it resulted in horrible nightmares, mostly consisting of watching Rose being shot again and again by the Jack-clad Master. He'd woken up with a scream followed by stifled sobs, his hearts aching for the loss he knew he couldn't turn back. By the third night full of nightmares, the Doctor decided that sleep was overrated and he was avoiding it as much as possible, much to Glad's disconcertion.

On the sixth day, the Doctor and Glad were about to embark in an intense competition after a hardy meal, courtesy of the Doctor's centuries of cooking prowess.

"I seriously doubt it," the Time Lord told Glad, self-confidence clear in his voice. He pointed to himself. "Perfect hand-eye coordination. Besides, I learned from the best."

"Who?" Glad retorted. "Couldn't have been any better than Alfred of Bath."

"Robert of Loxley," he replied with a grin.

"Who?" she asked again. "Could this Robert shoot ten arrows in a row and split the former every time?"

He laughed at her proclamation. "You're making things up, now. No one has ever been better than Robin Hood."

She squished her nose slightly. "Robin Hood was a fictional character and a fox at that."

"There you go, getting your history mixed up with your movies again. Robert of Loxley, otherwise known as Robin Hood, was a brilliant marksman and a champion for the rights of the poor." He picked up a bow from the display and examined it before nodding at his choice.

"I wasn't making anything up about Alfred. He was known as the best archer in Arthur's realm."

"Never heard of him," he responded, gathering his quiver and putting it over his shoulder so that he would have easy access to the arrows within. Gazing down the field before him, he eyed the tree which had a large knot in place of a paper target. "Watch and learn," he told the girl, pulling out an arrow and, in quick succession, firing it off. The arrow flew straight to its target, striking dead center in the knot. "Ha!"

"Lucky shot. I'll..." She suddenly stopped. "Did you hear that?"

"Bird," the Doctor responded. "No cheating by using distraction tactics. It's not lady-like at all. You claim this Alfred was good? Prove it by showing what kind of student you were."

"No... really. Did you hear that?" she repeated, walking towards the console room. "There's something out there, Doctor. I know there is."

The Gallifreyan, seeing Glad moving out into the hallway, quickly put down his bow and quiver before hurrying after her. "Where are you going?" he questioned with concern. Had being in the TARDIS for the last six days affected his companion's mind? "Glad, I swear. There's nothing to hear except those elements the TARDIS created for us."

"You're wrong," she answered simply. "I'm going to see what's going on." She'd reached the console room and would quickly be at the door.

Realizing that the girl was going to try to leave the TARDIS, the Doctor hurriedly blocked her path. "Glad, stop! There's nothing out there. We've been investigating the possibility all week and we've come up with nothing. Remember? If you even open the doors, who knows what will happen?"

"You're such a worry-wart sometimes. Nothing bad is going to happen. I just know it. I feel it." She did a quick move around him, grabbing the handle and pulling the door open. "See?" she finished before stepping out.

" _No!_ " he called out, already knowing that it was too late. He rubbed the bottom of his face, trepidation clear in his eyes. What if he was right and she had just vanished into nothingness? How could he have let her be drawn into such a predicament? Something had drawn her to go outside, though. She wouldn't have just left without some reason. But what was it? Was he really just being a "worry-wart?" He sighed. Since they found themselves outside of time, he'd been so afraid for Glad's safety. She was, after all, the last person in his life. At least, that's what he thought all week. And now, it seemed, she was gone, drawn into the nothingness by something he himself couldn't sense, which in itself was disturbing to him. But if she were in danger, didn't he have a responsibility to go after her? Protect her? All of this had run through his mind in less than a second before he quickly followed her out the door... and into an old English pub.

The Doctor blinked as he looked around the establishment. "Never thought nothingness looked like 19th century England."

A man that looked like an identical twin to Ricky's friend, Jake Simmonds - but it couldn't be, could it? - turned towards him. "Took you long enough to come out. Talk about stubborn."

The voice was correct, right down to the strong Northern accent, the Doctor noted, but his hair wasn't spiked up like he'd last seen him. In fact, it was downright Victorian in its austerity, as was the vintage barman's uniform he was wearing.

"Jake?!" the Gallifreyan questioned with incredulity. He glanced around the pub again and saw Glad sitting on the other end of the bar, sipping on a straw that led directly to what looked like an old-fashioned root beer float. "What... but... This doesn't make sense. Where are we? _When_ are we because I would certainly remember if we had dropped into a parallel universe and then went back two centuries, somehow bringing you along."

Glad looked up. "All I know is this is a really good root beer float."

Jake smiled at her. "There's more if you want it, lass." Then he turned to the Doctor. "Why can't you just accept there's more in heaven and Earth... or outside of it... than is dreamt of in your philosophy?"

"Now I know you're not Jake," the Doctor commented, still wary. "He's not exactly a philosophical sort of person."

"Not everything is how it appears. The universe is just so much smoke and mirrors, you know. But I'm being rude. What can I get you? We have an excellent bitters if you're interested."

"Actually, information would be nice." The Time Lord tucked his hands into his pockets. "Like how an English pub from the late 19th century Earth is doing in... well... nowhere. Mind you, as places go, it's a lovely place to be. But this can't possibly be 19th century Earth any more than you are an agent of Torchwood from a parallel universe."

"You're right. At least about being an agent of Torchwood. But this place... is as real as anything _can_ be. I mean, doesn't every place... or no place for that matter... deserve someplace where people can come and relax? Get away from whatever is bothering them? At least for a little while?"

"But this place shouldn't even exist. Nothing exists nowhere. I should know. I've been nowhere before and there was nothing there."

"Who said you were nowhere? Of course you're somewhere, just not a somewhere that most people get to visit."

"Yes, well, right now this somewhere is feeling more like insanity by the minute," the Doctor commented.

"I always say, when the world seems a bit bonkers, a tall glass of nut brown will do the trick. Let me get you a pint."

The Gallifreyan shook his head slightly, more to clear his head of the impossibilities he was seeing than in response to the suggestion. "Not much of a beer person. Well... not anymore. Might be in the future but preferably not for a while."

The bartender put down the glass. "Well, then, what can I get you? We have a fine selection of imported beverages both hard and soft."

The Gallifreyan watched the bartender cautiously for a long moment. Despite not having received any suitable explanations for the situation he and Glad were now in, the girl didn't seem to be in danger - if she were being poisoned, surely there would have been an adverse reaction to the root beer float she was practically inhaling - and he honestly didn't feel as if he were in danger himself. He was just extremely confused and troubled because of it. As he thought about the situation, he noticed the collection of bottles behind the bar and froze. "Is that... _straztra_?"

"Yes. Yes it is. Well aged too. None finer anywhere. Would you like some?"

"But... that's impossible. No one makes _straztra_. Not since..."

"Who's to say what's possible and what isn't. Like I said, it's imported. Where it was obtained exactly, I'm not sure but the distributor is a very dependable sort. I have no doubt it's exactly what it appears."

The Doctor considered the bottle from a distance. "My father loved _straztra_. We went through a whole liter of it when I graduated the Academy." He sniffed slightly. "Well, given that I'm talking to a man who looks like someone I knew... and the fact that Glad is still breathing..." He walked over to the girl and put his hand over her heart to verify the supposition. "All right. Glass of _straztra_."

The bartender placed another root beer float on the bar next to Glad. "Coming right up." He pulled the bottle down and poured the rich golden liquid into a crystal glass. The cut prisms caused the libation to take on a glow. "Beautiful drink. That's one thing I'll say. Your people had a deep love of beauty."

"Wow!" Glad exclaimed, taking a short break between her treats and watching the shimmering drink in front of the Doctor. "What is that?"

"It's an alcoholic drink from Gallifrey. It doesn't exist anymore. Lost along with a million trillion other things." He slowly reached out to take the glass in hand. "My people loved beauty all right. But they didn't appreciate it enough to defend it until it was too late." He took a careful sip of the drink, gazing over the rim of the glass and into the mirror on the opposite side. He wasn't really all too surprised to see that his reflection wasn't one of a tall thin man with unruly brown hair and brown eyes but rather of a man with sharp blue eyes under a mess of long curly hair. After all, if he could hallucinate his old friend behaving strangely in a role that didn't fit him at all, why couldn't he hallucinate seeing a previous incarnation of himself in the mirror. Still, he decided to test this phenomenon. "Glad? Who do you see in the mirror? I mean, do I look like me?"

Glad looked into the mirror. "What a strange question. I see you and you look like you. Who else would I see?" She looked again. "And I can see that I need a haircut." She took a bite of the ice cream with the foam. After swallowing, she smiled. "Taste's just like the ones Sam made."

The bartender smiled at her. "It should. He gave me the recipe. Said you have to add the root beer slowly to make the right kind of foam."

"You know Sam?" Glad asked.

The bartender nodded. "Very well. You might say he's one of my favorite people. Just wish he didn't expect to save the entire world. He and Mother Teresa have a lot in common."

"Who's Mother Teresa?"

"She was a nun who worked primarily in India doing good deeds," the Doctor answered the question, downing the rest of the impossible drink in a single gulp. "But I seriously doubt he actually knows Sam," he told her bluntly. The Time Lord turned an accusing eye towards the bartender as a possibility other than complete insanity finally came to mind. "He's been reading our thoughts and using them against us."

Glad looked at him. "Well, the root beer float's the same. Maybe he does know Sam," she said sadly. "I miss him."

"Oh, I know Sam all right," the man said. "Genius extraordinaire and one of the most caring noble souls I've ever known. The man just doesn't know when to stop."

"Stop it," the Doctor ordered, putting down the now empty glass on the bar with some force. "Stop getting into our heads."

The bartender looked at the Doctor, looking offended. "I'm not in your head. Why is it so hard to believe that someone may just know who you are? Merlyna told me that you could be a stubborn cuss, jumping to a solution before you had all the facts."

"There is no way you know what you do without violating our minds. You got Glad's favorite drink. You got my favorite drink from home, from a planet that doesn't even exist anymore. For Rassilon's sake! We're in a 19th century English pub! And we're not on Earth as I had supposed; we're on Gallifrey!" He pointed to the window, which revealed an orange-red sky and two suns just outside. "If that's not getting into our heads, I don't know what is."

"I like people to feel at home at my place." He put out his hand. "I'm Al."

"And now you are going by a name from our minds." The Gallifreyan gave him a harsh glare. "You are doing a fine job of not convincing me."

The man shrugged. "Can't you just take time out from your travels to enjoy that drink that doesn't exist in your universe?" He nodded to Glad who had continued to drink her root beer float. "The child seems content enough."

"That's just it! _Straztra_ simply doesn't exist anymore. Anywhere at all. So how could you import it? This pub... there has never been a 19th century English pub on Gallifrey. They wouldn't have been caught dead with such a place. Every instinct in my body is telling me that this place and everything about it is wrong! Which leaves me with only one of two conclusions - that I've either gone completely mad and this is all in my head or that you, for some unknown reason, are manipulating my mind to see these things. Either way, this is completely and totally... bonkers!" Seeing that he wasn't going to win this battle, as Galadriel seemed to be completely at ease with her surroundings, he slumped back unto the barstool he had vacated, staring at his reflection. For some reason, he wasn't surprised to see a different face once again, this one gaunt with white hair and a distinct nose. The reflection showed him wearing a frilled shirt with a velvet smoking jacket, a black cape and matching fedora. "I feel adrift in a sea of strangers."

"Many things in your world no longer exist. You've seen wondrous and terrible changes in your lives, Doctor. Here... what was, is, and could be are possible. Why does that frighten you?"

"Because..." the Time Lord started before sighing. "It's just... wrong. This place... it goes against all the Laws of Time. And that's... wrong." Seeing another glass of _straztra_ in front of him, he slowly picked it up and took another drink. "You're right, though. It's definitely good _straztra_."

"The problem is, you expect the Laws to Time to be everywhere," the Jake look-alike continued as if the Doctor hadn't commented on the drink. "They are not here since we are before time."

"Again, that's impossible as there is no such thing as 'before time.'" The Gallifreyan chuckled slightly at his own words. "Listen to me. I'm starting to sound like a corrupt audio file. Said the same thing to the Beast on Krop Tor. He said he was from before time." He exhaled loudly. "It's not a concept that is easy for me to accept."

The bartender smiled softly. "Yes, the Beast. He's been trying to escape his prison into your universe since he learned of its creation." He paused. "I'm sorry you had to deal with him."

"Well, at least he won't bother us again. Sent him into a black hole."

"Well, unlikely then... but you never know." The bartender smiled at Glad. "I was happy when Merlyna told me about you. Such an extraordinary child."

Glad blushed slightly. "The Doctor always says I'm brilliant but I think he just likes that word."

The Doctor turned to her. "Just because I like the word doesn't mean that it isn't true. You _are_ brilliant."

Glad smiled at the Doctor and then turned back to the Bartender. "How did you meet Sam?"

The man took a breath. "I met him a few years back. You might say he 'leapt' in one day. We were afraid he was on the verge of losing himself."

"So you're saying this is a sanitarium for time travelers who have lost their minds?" The Doctor gave a self-deprecating laugh. "Guess I'm in the right place then."

"I said we were afraid for Dr. Beckett. As you know, his method of travel is not conducive to continued mental health."

"Traveling through the time vortex without a ship isn't conducive to any type of health. I'm surprised it didn't kill him right out."

"It almost did. It would have. We saw and decided to intervene."

"Well, that explains a lot," the Doctor quipped back. A look of dawning comprehension captured his face. "You must be the bartender whom Sam said is leaping him through time," he commented, unable now to deny what he was seeing and hearing and realizing that the man behind the bar was the same man Sam had referred to when they had first met. "Somehow, I doubt that you really look like Jake Simmonds. What is that? Some sort of chameleon effect? Make yourself look like someone we're familiar with?"

The bartender smiled. "Something like that. We want our guests to feel comfortable."

"Why? You said Sam was here because his mental health was at issue. Obviously you must think I'm in need of... rehabilitation as well." He looked down dejectedly. "Maybe you're right. Maybe I have gone over the edge. Been through a lot recently... too much maybe."

With a sympathetic smile, the bartender shook his head. "No. Your situation is significantly different than Sam's." When the Time Lord looked up at him asking for clarification, he gave it. "Sam needed a respite. A time in which he was able to look at the reality of his leaping. To understand that he had more control over his situation than he thought. I tried to help him understand that but I'm afraid he didn't fully believe me."

"And me and Glad? Why did you bring us here?"

The bartender continued to polish one of his glasses. "You'll soon have that answer but not quite yet. I perceive that the young one still has concerns for Sam and sometimes clearing up one mystery leads to understanding about the rest." He smiled. "I'm sure you've experienced that in your long life."

"It's happened," the Time Lord conceded. He looked to his companion. "Is he right? What do you want to know?"

"Are you really the one leaping Sam?" Glad put in, looking at the bartender. "He so wants to go home. Why won't you let him?"

"Now, that is a good question," the Doctor commented, turning his attention wholly on the bartender. "From what Sam said, you have been using him to interfere with time on a massive scale. Why? Why Sam and why change history this drastically?"

The Bartender's grin grew. "Ah...there's the rub, isn't it? Both of your questions are excellent so let me address them." He looked to Glad. "First and foremost, Galadriel, I am definitely not leaping Sam, Sam is leaping himself. I know he doesn't want to believe that, but it's true. But we can hear the pleas of those inside of time or see a situation that should not have happened and sometimes, it is decided that mercy, or justice, or even love has been denied simply because of the flow of time. Then intercession is necessary. When Sam decided of his own free will to step into his accelerator, there were two choices. Allow his creation to kill him or utilize his ability to travel in his lifetime to intercede. We chose the latter."

"So you saved his life but then used him to make these changes in time," the Doctor summarized.

"Not exactly. Yes, we help Sam to focus on the moments when things can be changed without affecting the fabric of your universe. He is a human and does not have a Time Lord's ability to see all that was or will be. To expect such a being to navigate those treacherous waters alone would be irresponsible and dangerous. We don't want to incur a visit from the Reapers, after all." The Bartender paused. "Do you know why Sam built his time machine?"

The Doctor blinked for a moment, searching his memories. "From what I recall of human history, it was supposed to be to only observe the past. I doubt he actually expected to change anything."

"Could you just stand by and watch the past without interfering in some way if you knew you could help and it wasn't a fixed point in time?"

The Gallifreyan hesitated for a long moment before shaking his head. "No," he admitted. "I don't think that I could."

"It is the same with Sam... although he doesn't understand such concepts as fixed points. He tried to come up with a set of rules to follow, not realizing that subconsciously he didn't accept them all. It causes him quite a few problems, especially when he wants to change something that can't be changed. Samuel Beckett wants to make things right. He wants to take away the bad in people's lives. That's why he built his time machine and that's why he's still leaping."

Glad spoke up. "So you're saying that Sam doesn't want to go home?"

The Bartender shook his head, speaking directly to Glad. "No. Sam wants to go home. He also wants to continue helping people and that's the stronger motivation. Until his desire to go home is stronger than the need to tilt at windmills, he will continue to leap. As I explained, we simply lead him to the situations that can be changed."

"I just spent several weeks with the man. I know he wants to go home a lot more than you suggest. I was at his project. I reviewed his retrieval program," the Doctor pointed out. "A few changes to the computer code and he'll be back home. And he's asked me to help him to do just that."

"All right. He's asked you to help him bring him home. But then what do we have? If Sam is not ready to stop helping others in this fashion, the desire to leap would either cause him to re-enter the accelerator which would kill him outright this time or he would forego leaping and his unanswered desire to time travel again would lead to a life of regrets. Neither of those situations would be what a man of Sam's unique nature deserves." The man who resembled Jake looked into his eyes. "Could you live with that? Being the cause of either his death or his misery?"

The Doctor rubbed his face with a hand, exhaling slowly. "No... no, I couldn't. By preventing him from going home, you're saving his life, one way or the other. And you're preventing him from altering fixed points by directing him to those points he can change safely. Which means that I've been wrong about a few incidences in my life..." he admitted reluctantly, remembering the argument he'd had with Sam concerning whether they should save Alistair. "Still, that doesn't explain why you brought me and Glad here. Surely there's more to it than giving me a reason not to help Sam get home. If that were the case, you - who obvious have the ability to redirect a time travelling scientist and pull the TARDIS into... wherever we are - can prevent the TARDIS from getting anywhere near Project Quantum Leap, thus thwarting any altruistic intentions I may have concerning the issue."

The voice of a woman was heard from the doorway. "Brilliant deduction, Dafydd. There is more to why you are here." The woman looked at the bartender. "Sorry I'm late. I had to attend to a problem in the Hewqusian Continuum."

The Gallifreyan blinked at the words. He'd been all over the known universe and, while he hadn't yet been everywhere, he did know at least the names of every part of the universe... except the one mentioned by this newcomer. Just what exactly was the Hewqusian Continuum? Turning to question the woman on the matter - after all, he did have an insatiable curiosity - he immediately recognized her, though he'd only met her in shadow. "Merlyna," he identified her, his eyes wide with surprise. "Well, this is unexpected. What are you doing here?"

Glad look at him strangely. "Dafydd? Your name is Dafydd?"

The Doctor grimaced slightly. "Technically, no. It's what my mother called me since she wasn't fond of the name I was given. Not human enough, in her opinion. So, she called me by a Welsh name." He gave her a pointed look. "And if you reveal that to anyone, you're grounded for ten years."

Glad smiled. "Dafydd was the name of my grandfather."

"Really?" the Time Lord questioned with surprise. "Good name."

"The Doctor, Glad and I had a nice chat while you were gone but, now that you're here, we can address his concerns," the Bartender replied to her apology as he poured a glass of _straztra_ and put it on the bar.

"Wait... you were stalling? Seriously? All that talk about Sam and leaping was a stalling tactic?" the Time Lord questioned with a frown.

Shrugging, Jake's doppelganger replied, "She needed to be here and knowing she is not the most punctual..." He looked to her, "...a very unbecoming trait for a Time Lady...," before returning his gaze to the Doctor. "...I decided we might as well get those other issues out of the way. We would have had to address them sooner or later in any case."

"I'm not the only member of my species who has a problem with being on time," she countered with a smile, glancing at the Doctor knowingly. The latter ran a hand through his hair, a diversionary tactic to avoid reply to the inferred accusation. Merlyna smiled at his discomfort before noticing the drink on the bar. "You treat me so well," she complimented the bartender as she picked up her glass. Taking a sip, she returned her attention to the Doctor. "What am I doing here? I was given the choice to come here and, when I understood what I was being offered, I decided that it's what I wanted to do."

"And what exactly were you being offered?" the Doctor questioned. "As far as I could tell from the records - and by all accounts of your grandson - you're... well... dead. And yet, you are here. And you were able to get into my dreams. Now, admittedly your arranging for Glad to receive the White Eye through your grandson was brilliant. As was the vision you arranged in your Zero Room, for which I must thank you because I really didn't want to become a man with no hearts and, if I hadn't seen it, I wouldn't have told Glad to warn me against it allowing me to avoid the fate that I saw. And undoubtedly you used your own experiences from traveling in time and actually seeing firsthand what kind of world the Master would have made of the Earth to guide me and my friends into preventing the Master from achieving his goals. My only question really is how you did it without completely fracturing space-time."

"It's all because I came here." When he continued to keep his arms crossed in defiance, she explained further. "The beings that exist on this plane of existence were here long before Gallifrey coalesced out of stardust. They have always existed outside of time. When I became a fugitive from Gallifrey, I traveled far afield and I discovered what you would be forced to do, to become the destroyer. For awhile, I thought I needed to find a way to stop you."

Glad's mouth turned to a frown. "Why would you say that? The Doctor isn't a destroyer."

Merlyna smiled at Glad. "No. That is never his first choice. But he realized that the only way for the universe to continue was to destroy our people and the Daleks." She turned to the Doctor again. "Others knew that as well but you were the only one willing to act. When I first learned of this, I was sure you were wrong and I would have to find some way to stop you, to save our people."

"I was a General fighting a losing war," the Doctor told her firmly. "The whole of creation was at stake. I had to do it."

"I know. I realized that after I was approached by these wondrous beings. I was given a great gift... to understand more than I ever would have if I had remained inside time. I was allowed to see that the Master still lurked within the Eye of Harmony and that he would find his way out and what he would do if left unchecked. If I had stopped you, I would have assured that he would have ruled your universe. I was not allowed to contact you directly but I was allowed to set a few things in place before I left, such as Glad's pendant and the Zero Room. Then I had to come here, never to interact fully with your universe again, though I am able to speak to its inhabitants in dreams. Quite a price to pay for immortality, wouldn't you say?"

"You can never leave here? You can never die? Ever?" He took a slow breath. "I'm not sure that's so much a gift as a punishment."

"Well, there is a certain satisfaction that comes from being with those who do what's right and good and will continue to do so throughout the infinite realms that exist beyond this place."

Glad's eyes grew wide. "You're an angel! The Fathers said there were angels but I never thought I'd meet one."

"There are no such thing as angels, Galadriel," the Doctor put in. Seeing the look on her face, he paused. "At least, not the kind you're thinking of. Not to my knowledge, anyway. Then again..." He looked around the room. "Given that I really have no clue where I am, except perhaps, as the bartender says, outside of time itself... I suppose it's possible for these beings to be as close to angelic as possible. Kind of like the Eternals. Extremely powerful, able to manipulate matter with their minds..." He looked to the bartender. "...able to reach into the mind of a Time Lord at will. And all for their own entertainment. It's most likely that's what you people really are, only you have found a purpose in your eternal lives."

The bartender let out a breath of frustration. "No. We are the first. The Eternals came later."

"Then what do you call yourselves, if you are not indeed Eternals? The First?"

"We call ourselves Servants."

"Bit unimaginative, isn't it? Servants? And whom exactly do you serve?"

"It is descriptive of what we do. We serve the one who has always existed, the one that created everything."

"Wait a minute. Sounds like you're talking about... God," the Time Lord commented with disbelief.

Merlyna smiled. "The one Sam refers to as God, Fate, Time, or whatever."

Glad perked up. "Can we meet Him?"

The bartender shook his head. "I'm sorry. To do so would require you to make the same sacrifice as Merlyna and you have so much more to do in your own universe."

"Besides," the Doctor put in. "Remember your Bible? No one has ever seen the face of God and lived. Or something like that."

Merlyna smiled gently at his words. "Yes, something like that." She looked kindly at Glad. "I'd like to ask you a favor, child. In the Doctor's TARDIS, there should be a book in the library about the natural history of Gallifrey. Would you be kind enough to retrieve it?

The Doctor looked at Merlyna suspiciously. "What are you up to?"

"Nothing, Dafydd. We are for all intents on Gallifrey. I want to show her something in the book. There's no harm in that, is there?"

The Doctor saw something in Merlyna's eyes that caused him to accept that there might be some reason for the child not to remain for their conversation. "No. I suppose not. It should be in the library, third row, top shelf, about the middle."

Glad let out a sigh. "I wish you'd just come out and tell me that you don't want me to listen to you talk instead of sending me on silly errands."

Merlyna smiled. "We need to talk with the Doctor alone. However, the book is important. Look at it this way; it will give you something to do."

"Eating ice cream gives me something to do," she grumbled as she went into the TARDIS to fulfill the request.

The bartender smiled, watching Glad walk back into the blue box. "She's an intelligent child. Her mother's people are wise."

Merlyna looked to the bartender. "Yes. But she's human as well and would be easily confused at her age. A Time Lord will understand."

The Doctor frowned at her words. "Understand what?" There was suspicion and impatience in his voice.

"Merlyna's right. You were the one who needed to come here, not Galadriel. Much of what we must explain is inherent in the intricacies of time. And some of the information is of a personal nature. You should have the right to either share what you wish with her at a later date or to keep it private."

He accepted the explanation to a point. Calmly he replied, "All right. So what is this personal information that you're intent on telling me?"

"The whereabouts of Rose Tyler."

"What?" the Doctor questioned, confusion clouding his features.

Merlyna put her hand out to take his shoulder. "We want you to know what's happened to Rose, Dafydd."

A haunted expression came to his features, his eyes showing that he was reliving the last moments he'd had with the woman he so dearly loved. "I know what's happened to her. The Master shot her with my friend's weapon. She's dead."

The woman shook her head. "She's not dead. We were able to pull her from your universe. Like Sam, when he's in between leaps and heals, she was healed as well and will live out her normal life span."

"Alive?" came the awed whisper filled with desperate hope. "She's alive? I mourned her for a week and you just let me mourn her when you could have told me..." He swallowed down the frustration that was growing in him, a feeling that could easily turn into anger if he allowed it. "Where is she?"

"Where she would be if Sam had not leapt in at Canary Wharf," the Bartender interjected.

The anger he'd held at bay began to seep out, his eyes growing dangerously dark. "You put her in the Void," he growled, remembering how Rose had been holding on for dear life, how her hold had slipped only a second before she fell - or rather, he now knew, Sam fell - to the floor of that white control room in Torchwood Tower.

"No. Of course not," Merlyna objected vehemently. "That's not our way."

The bartender put up his hand in a calming fashion. "We felt that placing Sam in your life at that moment would create the means of keeping the Master at bay, which you wouldn't have been able to do on your own. Once we used that opening, it was necessary to insure that what would have happened in the end did happen, thus securing a fixed point from being changed." He paused. "It's not the when and how of a fixed point that are critical but rather that its integrity is maintained."

"What fixed point? Where is she?" he demanded, ignoring the bartender and focusing strictly on Merlyna. "She lost her grip on the handle and she was falling into the Void when Sam leapt into her."

"Yes, but Sam's leap caused a ripple in time, altering history ever so slightly at that moment across multiple universes. If Sam had not leapt in, her father's counterpart from the universe the Cybermen came from would have caught her and taken her to his world."

The Gallifreyan stared at her for a long moment as he considered her words. "So... she's in Pete's World... with her mum and Mickey."

"Yes. That way, time has been minimally affected. What was to be is," Merlyna confirmed. "With a few exceptions," she added with a gentle smile.

He nodded slightly. "I never would have met Galadriel. Or Samuel or Albert or Margaret. Quite a few exceptions there."

"There are others from Rose's point of view but, yes. Her own memories will be muddled to correct the differences in the timelines but ultimately both universe timelines are essentially maintained."

"Her memories are muddled? How?"

"Remember what happens to Sam. He heals physically, yes, but his memory has holes. Usually. The same applies to Rose. She doesn't remember what happened during her time at Project Quantum Leap... or being shot by the Master."

"She won't remember seeing Jack kill her?"

"No."

For several long seconds, the Doctor mulled over everything that he'd been told, letting the knowledge that Rose was alive be a comfort to him and squelching any resentments that might have come to the surface if he had been told of her fate the moment she had vanished. In hindsight, he knew he probably would have done something completely rash, like try to reach Rose despite the risk of tearing apart two universes in the process. Now that he'd had the week of mourning and coping with losing her, he could think more rationally, even if his hearts ached with the knowledge that he would probably never see her again. At least he knew she was safe and with her family. He just hoped that she would have the fantastic life he wished for her.

"Is she happy?" he finally questioned.

"She'll accept her life there, once everything through the fullness of time is sorted out," the bartender stated. "It wasn't a random choice of universe. She would have been there in any case and she does have family and friends with her."

The Time Lord nodded in agreement with the assessment. "Good. Thank you for taking care of her. Or at least making sure that she's being taken care of."

The Jake doppelganger bowed his acknowledgement of the thanks.

"Dafydd, if there was any way we could have kept her with you, we would've," Merlyna said as she put her hand out to take his.

"Yeah," came the quiet response to the sentiment followed by a tight swallow as the Gallifreyan pushed down the emotions he was feeling. Straightening noticeably, he seemed to be ready to find a way to make an exit when his expression shifted into a frown. "Just one more thing I've wondered about. You took a piece of the Eye of Harmony, which caused the Time Lords to go after you so you fled to Earth and hid amongst their people, thus avoiding the call to war when it came. But why take a piece of the Eye? What did you want with the White Eye originally... because it had nothing to do with stopping the Master. Otherwise, you wouldn't have been a fugitive."

"Omega," she answered.

"Omega?"

"He was my _papisjarno._ Before I left Gallifrey, I was hungry for power, ready to do whatever I could to get it. I figured if I could pull him out of the other universe, we'd rule together." At the look of shock on his face, she shrugged. "I was at the end of my lives and I guess I wanted to go out with a bang and not a whimper. However, once I became a fugitive and met my husband on that brilliant world we both love, I changed my mind and just lived. It was only after finding what the Time War would bring and the consequences of the Master re-entering a world without Time Lords... well, except a few of us... I changed my mind again and that's when I met this wonderful bartender. The rest... you know."

The Doctor looked at her with a hint of disbelief. "I have a feeling that you haven't told me everything."

"I've told you what's important. The rest... just is life. I'm willing to admit that my motives have not always been pure and I did have my own personal reasons for aiding you in the task of stopping the Master. Your father used to chide me at times for my somewhat selfish behaviors. Still, in the end, I did choose what's right, didn't I? Like I said, that's what's important."

"I suppose," he conceded. "Can't say I haven't done the same at times." He hesitated, noting something she had told him. "My father used to chide you? You knew my father," he stated more than asked.

"We went to school together at the Academy. We even had a short... relationship... before he met your mother. She was a brilliant woman, even if I never told her... something I regret now." She paused. "I didn't understand at the time but years later, when I met my own human husband, it became clear to me just how wonderful these people can be."

"They are brilliant, aren't they."

"Yes. Incredible in their humanity although sadly able to take the wrong road at times. I'm glad that you are there to guide them and protect them, Dafydd."

"They just need a push in the right direction every once in a while." He paused. "Just one more thing. What or who is the Hewqusian Continuum?"

She laughed at the question. "Always so curious, just like your parents." Seeing him wait for a response, she gave him a maternal smile. "You may find out yourself... one day. Until then, I don't think you would understand."

Before the Doctor could form a retort, the bartender nodded to the window where what appeared to be the twin suns of Gallifrey were setting. "I believe it's time for you to resume your travels, Doctor. There is much you want to show Galadriel, is there not?"

The Doctor glanced towards the window, following the bartender's nod. "Yes. Yes, of course. A lot to see..." There was a look of longing on the Time Lord's face.

The bartender walked around the bar and put his hand out to take the shoulder of the homesick man. "The conditions are right for a spectacular sunset. Perhaps you'd like to take your young friend for a walk before twilight?"

The Gallifreyan turned his head at the suggestion, questioning on his face. "You'd allow that? For me and Galadriel to just wander around in your realm?"

"Until twilight. After all, mortals must rest and live their lives in the time allotted them."

The Doctor thought about his words for a moment, again looking through the window that showed the setting suns. Gallifrey's rotation was slower than that of Earth's and the planet was much further away from its suns. This meant that sunsets usually lasted for a few hours. The thought of spending some time on the surface of his homeworld, albeit a believable - and probably accurate - recreation was alluring. Giving a small smile, he walked over to his ship and, opening the door, called in. "What's taking so long, Glad? I told you exactly where the book is."

The girl came into the console room. "I thought I would never get out of here. The TARDIS kept changing the configuration of the halls. I thought she liked me," she grumbled.

"Cheeky girl," he berated the ship quietly. "You've been listening in on the conversation out here, haven't you." Raising his voice again, he told Glad, "I'm sure she still does. She was probably stalling you."

"Whatever," Glad responded, still somewhat miffed but not wanting to get into it. She held up the book as she stepped out of the ship. "I found it. The pictures in it are amazing."

The Doctor smiled at her words. "How would you like to see them for real? Well, semi-real at least."

"How?" she asked, although her features showed excitement at the prospect.

"Look out the window."

Glad followed his gaze. "The twin suns!"

"Sort of," he responded, though he couldn't help but smile at her excitement. He extended his hand towards her. "Let's go for a walk, shall we? I'll tell you all about my home planet of Gallifrey."

The two walked out hand in hand to experience the non-existent world where golden light still streaked the burnt orange sky and flutterwings sailed through the air from flower to flower. The silver leaves on the trees shivered on their twigs, reflecting the light in all directions.

Merlyna smiled at the bartender as Glad's voice filtered in, an exclamation of "it's so beautiful!" ringing through the pub. "That is one of the nicest things you've ever done," she told him gratefully. "I know the song his hearts must be singing."

"After all the good he's done, he deserves a reward," the Bartender replied.

"Truer words were never spoken," she agreed.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

The Doctor and Glad strode on the red grassy plains, enjoying the beauty around them as they did so. Every once in a while, the Gallifreyan would point out certain aspects of their surroundings, such as the local flora and fauna. Glad especially seemed entranced by a group of flutterwings that had chosen a bed of flowers to pollinate. Picking one of the flowers to examine the flutterwing more closely, she was slightly disappointed when the small insect flew off, leaving her with just the flower. Tucking the small fragile plant in one of her pockets, she'd hurried to catch up with the Time Lord, who promptly showed her the distant mountains and the dome enclosed city in the distance, telling her of how he had grown up in the mountains and would often look upon the city with longing.

After a few hours time, the two found themselves lying in the grass a few hundred feet from the odd building in the middle of the field - namely the incongruous 19th century English pub - enjoying their surroundings.

"It isn't real," the Doctor suddenly commented from his prone position. Turning his head towards Glad to see her slightly confused expression, he clarified, "Everything around us... it's just an illusion. A very accurate and comforting illusion but still... just an illusion."

"But everything is just like it said in the book. Besides, we're lying in the grass. I can feel it. I can smell the scent of some flower, hear the wind and the birds and the flutterwings. Why would you say this is an illusion? I don't understand."

He sat up, a sad look on his face. "None of this... all of this... it doesn't exist anymore. Like I said, a very accurate illusion, right down to the feel of the grass and the twin suns in the distance." He ran his hand over the grass, remembering days long gone when he would run through the fields with his best friend or sneak further up the mountain to talk to an old hermit. "My home planet is gone."

Glad reached out her hand to his shoulder, hearing in his voice sadness. "I'm sorry. It is... was... a beautiful place. Why is it gone?"

He was stilling running his hands through the grass as he spoke. "Remember that I mentioned a war? It was between my people and a race called the Daleks. It spanned through both time and space throughout the universe. Trillions died. The Daleks were winning and my people, corrupted by their own sense of power and self-worth, decided to end the war by eliminating the very thing the Daleks wanted, namely the universe itself, while my people would merely ascend to a higher plain of existence. I couldn't allow them to do that. So I stopped them. I destroyed them all, both Dalek and Time Lord." He turned to look into Glad's eyes. "The Master and I are the only Time Lords left."

"Merlyna is a Time Lady. Maybe there are more that you don't know about?"

"Merlyna isn't exactly a Time Lady anymore. She's... unique. As for others... I'd know. I would feel them. The only reason I didn't feel the Master before we confronted him face to face was because he put up a telepathic dampening field to mask his mind from me. I seriously doubt that there are any others out there doing the same thing."

"Maybe not like that but who knows. They could be hidden in some other way." She looked up to the setting suns before speaking again. "I suppose if that is true you may find someone else someday and, if it's not, you won't really know for sure so you can hope. Sometimes hope can be enough."

"Hoping for others of my kind right now, considering that there are only a small handful I would even want to ever see again, can be seriously damaging too," he commented, lying back down in the grass.

"I guess only time will answer that for sure." She tilted her head slightly. "Do you want to stay here? Illusion or not, it is your home world."

He took a slow steady breath. "I'd be lying if I said I wasn't tempted. But then... we haven't seen a single person here. Not one. And very likely, if we did see someone, they too would be illusions structured around my memories of Gallifrey. I couldn't live a life knowing that the people I considered family were nothing but recreations of my past. So, no. I don't want to stay here. It would hurt too much."

"I hope you understand, but I'm glad you said that. I love the wonders of your world... it fits you." She sighed slightly. "But I want to see more of the universe as well. I don't want to stop traveling. At least not yet."

He turned his head towards her and gave her a toothy grin. "Me neither." A slightly ethereal look came over the sky as the twin suns disappeared beyond the horizon, causing the heavens to turn into a deep burgundy. Slowly standing, the Doctor presented his hand to Glad. "Time to go," he told her gently.

She nodded, taking his hand. "I'm ready."

Helping her to get to her feet, the Gallifreyan shifted his hold on her hand so that they were standing side by side before slowly walking back to the pub. At the door, he turned and gave one last look at the representation of the world he grew up on and then entered the establishment. Upon stepping through the entrance, he noticed that all the chairs were upside down on the tables and the Jake look-alike bartender was wiping down the bar with an efficiency that cried out "closing time."

"Ah. You've returned. Right on time too," the Bartender greeted.

"Well, you did say twilight," the Doctor pointed out. He glanced around the room. "I see Merlyna's left us."

"Yes. She had another issue to address. The woman is an absolute miracle worker at times. I've never regretted offering her the opportunity to join us." He looked over to the TARDIS still sitting in the middle of the room. "I believe your ship is anxious to get back to your universe."

"Yeah. Well... she gets unsettled when things aren't as they should be." He turned to Glad. "Another reason not to stay. It just doesn't feel real here."

Continuing to wipe the tables, the man commented, "Reality takes many forms but I understand. Time for you is more than simply a passing feeling. It is a crucial part of your makeup. Safe journeys."

"I take that as our cue to leave," the Time Lord commented. "Thank you," he added gently, guiding his companion towards the time ship.

"You're quite welcome, Doctor. Our thanks to you as well. Protectors are in short supply throughout the universes but, without them, life would not find its diverse expression easily."

The Doctor gave him a hint of a smile. "Goodbye... Al," he said opening the TARDIS' door. Without waiting for a response, he ushered Glad into the phone box before following her in.

Shortly after the two had entered the blue box, a grinding sound announced the imminent departure of the timeship. As the TARDIS faded from view, so too did Gallifrey and the strange pub. The mind of the Bartender considered the history of the next corporal being from one of the universes that needed the unique viewpoint of his establishment. Deciding on the right setting, he began to create the environment that would be conducive to helping his upcoming patron.

DWQLTWDWQLTW

The gentle rhythm of the time rotor moving up and down gave a comforting resonance throughout the console room as the TARDIS started to move unexpectedly just as her two travelers finished their journey to the console. A second later, the Doctor stumbled slightly, an odd look on his face.

"What is it, Doctor?" Glad asked, concerned. "Is something wrong?"

Slowly, a smile grew on his features as the look shifted into one of obvious relief. "Just the opposite, actually. We returned to our proper universe. I can feel it. Made me a bit dizzy at first, though. Like standing up too quickly after fainting. And let me tell you, that's the best dizzy spell I've ever had in my life." Hurrying to the console, he started to turn knobs as he continued to speak. "Now... where to? The Electric Lights of Beholia Six? The planet Westree, where the grass is literally the color of newly spun silk?"

Glad shook her head. "Jakte."

The Doctor blinked at her for a moment. "Really? I would have thought you'd want to see somewhere you've never been."

She smiled at him. "I want to go somewhere familiar with happy memories attached to it."

"The Electric Lights of Beholia Six are happy," he started. "They're gorgeous, in fact. Like the Aurora Borealis only with flashes of dazzling multicolored lightning everywhere." Seeing the look on her face, he returned the smile. "Or we can go to Jakte and play with those furry little things that almost resemble the Tribbles on Star Trek. Have you watched Star Trek yet? Love Star Trek!"

"That was one of the shows Sam liked too," she said. "And yes, playing with the Tribbles was fun."

"Right then," he announced. "Jakte it is." He quickly set the coordinates and sent the TARDIS in a different direction with a slight jolt. Once he was certain that they were on their way to the planet he had personally named, he went over to Glad and took her hand. "By the way, I forgot to thank you." He gave a slight chuckle at his own words. "Again."

She reached around him and gave him a bear hug. "I love you, Doctor."

"I love you too," he assured her.

Together they watched the movement of the time rotor taking them off towards their next adventure, neither remembering the flower that was still tucked in Glad's pocket.

 _And there you have it – the end of our saga. Thanks for sticking with us through the whole thing. We hope you enjoyed it. Please let us know what you think of it._

 _Julianna Calavicci and asearcher_


End file.
